AMERICA 



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EQUATORIAL AMERICA. Descriptive of a Visit to St. 
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EQUATORIAL AMERICA 

DESCRIPTIVE OF A VISIT TO ST THOMAS 

MARTINIQUE, BARBADOES, AND 

THE PRINCIPAL CAPITALS 

OF SO UTH AMERICA 



MATURIN M. BALLOU 





BOSTON AND NEW YORK 

HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 

Wax, Utitoersibe $«££, Cambridge 



1892 



.c . 



\r^ 



Copyright, 1892, 
By MATURIN M. BALLOU. 

All rights reserved. 



</■ 




The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., V. S. A. 
Electrotyped and Printed by H. 0. Houghton & Company. 









DEDICATED 
TO 

CAPTAIN E. C. BAKER 

OF THE 

STEAMSHIP VIGILANCIA 

WITH WARM APPRECIATION OF HIS QUALITIES 

AS A GENTLEMAN 

AND AN ACCOMPLISHED SEAMAN 



\ 



PREFACE. 



" I am a part of all that I have seen," says Tenny- 
son, a sentiment which every one of large experience 
will heartily indorse. With the extraordinary facili- 
ties for travel available in modern times, it is a 
serious mistake in those who possess the means, not 
to become familiar with the various sections of the 
globe. Vivid descriptions and excellent photographs 
give us a certain knowledge of the great monuments 
of the world, both natural and artificial, but the trav- 
eler always finds the reality a new revelation, whether 
it be the marvels of a Yellowstone Park, a vast 
oriental temple, Alaskan glaciers, or the Pyramids 
of Ghiza. The latter, for instance, do not differ from 
the statistics which we have so often seen recorded, 
their great, dominating outlines are the same as pic- 
torially delineated, but when we actually stand before 
them, they are touched by the wand of enchantment, 
and spring into visible life. Heretofore they have 
been shadows, henceforth they are tangible and real. 
The best descriptions fail to inspire us, experience 



vi PREFACE. 

alone can do that. What words can adequately depict 
the confused grandeur of the Falls of Schaffhausen ; 
the magnificence of the Himalayan range, — roof -tree 
of the world ; the thrilling beauty of the Yosemite 
Valley ; the architectural loveliness of the Taj Mahal, 
of India ; the starry splendor of equatorial nights ; 
the maritime charms of the Bay of Naples ; or the 
marvel of the Midnight Sun at the North Cape ? It 
is personal observation alone which truly satisfies, 
educating the eye and enriching the understanding. 
If we can succeed in imparting a portion of our en- 
joyment to others, we enhance our own pleasure, and 
therefore these notes of travel are given to the public. 

M. M. B. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

Commencement of a Long Journey. — The Gulf Stream. — Hayti. 

— Sighting St. Thomas. — Ship Rock. — Expert Divers. — 
Fidgety Old Lady. — An Important Island. — The Old Slaver, 

— Aborigines. — St. Thomas Cigars. — Population. — Tri- 
Mountain. — The Negro Paradise. — Hurricanes. — Variety of 
Fish. — Coaling Ship. — The Firefly Dance. — A Weird Scene. 

— An Antique Anchor 1 

CHAPTER II. 

Curious Seaweed. — Professor Agassiz. — Myth of a Lost Conti- 
nent. — Island of Martinique. — An Attractive Place. — Statue 
of the Empress Josephine. — Birthplace of Madame de Main- 
tenon. — City of St. Pierre. — Mont Pel^e. — High Flavored 
Specialty. — Grisettes of Maritinque. — A Botanical Garden. — 
Defective Drainage. — A Fatal Enemy. — A Cannibal Snake. 

— The Climate 33 

CHAPTER III. 

English Island of Barbadoes. — Bridgetown the Capital. — The 
Manufacture of Rum. — A Geographical Expert. — Very Eng- 
lish. — A Pest of Ants. — Exports. — The Ice House. — A 
Dense Population. — Educational. — Marine Hotel. — Habits 
of Gambling. — Hurricanes. — Curious Antiquities. — The Bar- 
badoes Leg. — Wakeful Dreams. — Absence of Twilight. — 
Departure from the Island 51 

CHAPTER IV. 

Curious Ocean Experiences. — The Delicate Nautilus. — Flying- 
Fish. — The Southern Cross. — Speaking a Ship at Sea. — 



viii CONTENTS. 

Scientific Navigation..— South America as a Whole. — Fauna 
and Flora. — Natural Kesources of a Wonderful Land. — 
Rivers, Plains, and Mountain Ranges. — Aboriginal Tribes. — 
Population. — Political Divisions. — Civil Wars. — Weakness 
of South American States 



CHAPTER V. 

City of Para. — The Equatorial Line. — Spanish History. — The 
King of Waters. — Private Gardens. — Domestic Life in North- 
ern Brazil. — Delicious Pineapples. — Family Pets. — Opera 
House. — Mendicants. — A Grand Avenue. — Botanical Gar- 
den. — India-Rubber Tree. — Gathering the Raw Material. — 
Monkeys. — The Royal Palm. — Splendor of Equatorial Nights 94 

CHAPTER VI. 

Island of Marajo. — Rare and Beautiful Birds. — Original Mode 
of Securing Humming-Birds. — Maranhao. — Educational. — 
Value of Native Forests. — Pernambuco. — Difficulty of Land- 
ing. — An Hl-Chosen Name. — Local Scenes. — Uncleanly Hab- 
its of the People. — Great Sugar Mart. — Native Houses. — A 
Quaint Hostelry. — Catamarans. — A Natural Breakwater. — 
Sailing down the Coast 115 



CHAPTER VII. 

Port of Bahia. — A Quaint Old City. — Former Capital of Brazil. 
— Whaling Interests. — Beautiful Panorama. — Tramways. — 
No Color Line Here. — The Sedan Chair. — Feather Flowers. — 
A Great Orange Mart. — Passion Flower Fruit. — Coffee, Sugar, 
and Tobacco. — A Coffee Plantation. — Something about Dia- 
monds. — Health of the City. — Curious Tropical Street Scenes 138 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Cape Frio. — Rio Janeiro. — A Splendid Harbor. — Various 
Mountains. — Botaf ogo Bay. — The Hunchback. — > Farewell 
to the Vigilancia. — Tijuca. — Italian Emigrants. — City In- 
stitutions. — Public Amusements. — Street Musicians. — 
Churches. — Narrow Thoroughfares. — Merchants' Clerks. — 
Railroads in Brazil. — Natural Advantages of the City. — The 
Public Plazas. — Exports 155 



CONTENTS. ix 



CHAPTER IX. 

Outdoor Scenes in Rio Janeiro. — The Little Marmoset. — The .. - 
Fish Market. — Secluded Women. — The Romish Church. — y 
Botanical Garden. — Various Species of Trees. — Grand Ave- 
nue of Royal Palms. — Ahout Humming-Birds. — Climate of 
Rio. — Surrounded by Yellow Fever. — The Country Inland. — 
Begging on the Streets. — Flowers. — " Portuguese Joe." — 
Social Distinctions 180 ^ 

CHAPTER X. 

Petropolis. — Summer Residence of the Citizens of Rio. — 1 
Brief Sketch of the late Royal Family. — Dom Pedro's Palace. \ 

— A Delightful Mountain Sanitarium. — A Successful but 
Bloodless Revolution. — Floral Delights. — Mountain Scenery. 

— Heavy Gambling. — A German Settlement. — Casca- 
tinha. — Remarkable Orchids. — Local Types. — A Brazilian 
Forest. — Compensation 201 

CHAPTER XL 

Port of Santos. — Yellow Fever Scourge. — Down the Coast to 
Montevideo. — The Cathedral. — Pamperos. — Domestic Ar- 
chitecture. — A Grand Thoroughfare. — City Institutions. — 
Commercial Advantages. — The Opera House. — The Bull- 
Fight. — Beggars on Horseback. — City Shops. — A Typical 
Character. — Intoxication. — The Campo Santo. — Exports. — 
Rivers and Railways 217 

CHAPTER XII. 

Buenos Ayres. — Extent of the Argentine Republic. — Popula- 
tion. — Narrow Streets. — Large Public Squares. — Basques. 

— Poor Harbor. — Railway System. — River Navigation. — 
Tramways. — The Cathedral. — Normal Schools. — News- 
papers. — Public Buildings. — Calle Florida. — A Busy City. 

— Mode of furnishing Milk. — Environs. — Commercial and 
Political Growth. — The New Capital 244 

CHAPTER XIII. 

City of Rosario. — Its Population. — A Pretentious Church. — 
Ocean Experiences. — Morbid Fancies. — Strait of Magellan. 



x CONTENTS. 

— A Great Discoverer. — Local Characteristics. — Patago- 
nians and Fuegians. — Giant Kelp. — Unique Mail Box. — 
Punta Arenas. — An Ex-Penal Colony. — The Albatross. — 
Natives. — A Naked People. — Whales. — Sea-Birds. — Gla- 
ciers. — Mount Sarniiento. — A Singular Story 271 

CHAPTER XIV. 

The Land of Fire. — Cape Horn. -^In the Open Pacific — Fellow 
Passengers. — Large Sea-Bird. — An Interesting Invalid. — 
A Weary Captive. — A Broken-Hearted Mother. — Study of 
the Heavens. — The Moon. — Chilian Civil War. — Concepcion. 

— A Growing City. — Commercial Importance. — Cultivating 
City Gardens on a New Plan. — Important Coal Mines. — 
Delicious Fruits 297 

CHAPTER XV. 

Valparaiso. — Principal South American Port of the Pacific. — i 
A Good Harbor. — Tallest Mountain on this Continent. — The 
Newspaper Press. — Warlike Aspect. — Girls as Car Con- 
ductors. — Chilian Exports. — Foreign Merchants. — Effects • 
of Civil War. — Gambling in Private Houses. — Immigration. 

— Culture of the Grape. — Agriculture. — Island of Juan 
Fernandez 315 

CHAPTER XVI. 

The Port of Callao. — A Submerged City. — Peruvian Exports. 

— A Dirty and Unwholesome Town. — Cinchona Bark. — The 
Andes. — The Llama. — A National Dance. — City of Lima. 

— An Old and Interesting Capital. — Want of Rain. — Pizarro 
and His Crimes. — A Grand Cathedral. — Chilian Soldiers. — 
Costly Churches of Peru. — Roman Catholic Influence. — Dese- 
cration of the Sabbath 334 

CHAPTER XVn. 

A Grand Plaza. — Retribution. — The University of Lima. — Sig- 
nificance of Ancient Pottery. — Architecture. — Picturesque 
Dwelling. — Domestic Scene. — Destructive Earthquakes. — 
Spanish Sway. — Women of Lima. — Street Costumes. — An- 
cient Bridge of Lima. — Newspapers. — Pawnbrokers' Shops. 

— Exports. — An Ancient Mecca. — Home by Way of Europe. 355 



EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 



CHAPTER I. 

Commencement of a Long Journey. — The Gulf Stream. — Hayti. — 
Sighting St. Thomas. — Ship Rock. — Expert Divers. — Fidgety 
Old Lady. — An Important Island. — The Old Slaver. — Aborigines. 
— St. Thomas Cigars. — Population. — Tri-Mountain. — Negro Par- 
adise. — Hurricanees. — Variety of Fish. — Coaling Ship. — The 
Firefly Dane. — A Weird Scene. — An Antique Anchor. 

In starting upon foreign travel, one drops into the 
familiar routine on shipboard much after the same 
fashion wherever bound, whether crossing the Atlantic 
eastward, or steaming to the south through the waters 
of the Caribbean Sea ; whether in a Peninsular and 
Oriental ship in the Indian Ocean, or on a White 
Star liner in the Pacific bound for Japan. The 
steward brings a cup of hot coffee and a slice of dry- 
toast to one's cabin soon after the sun rises, as a sort 
of eye-opener ; and having swallowed that excellent 
stimulant, one feels better fortified for the struggle 
to dress on the uneven floor of a rolling and pitching 
ship. Then comes the brief promenade on deck be- 
fore breakfast, a liberal inhalation of fresh air insur- 
ing a good appetite. There is no hurry at this meal. 



2 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

There is so little to do at sea, and so much time to do 
it in, that passengers are apt to linger at table as a 
pastime, and even multiply their meals in number. 
As a rule, we make up our mind to follow some in- 
structive course of reading while at sea, but, alas ! we 
never fulfill the good resolution. An entire change 
of habits and associations for the time being is not 
favorable to such a purpose. The tonic of the sea 
braces one up to an unwonted degree, evinced by 
great activity of body and inind. Favored by the 
unavoidable companionship of individuals in the cir- 
cumscribed space of a ship, acquaintances are formed 
which often ripen into lasting friendship. Inexperi- 
enced voyagers are apt to become effusive and over- 
confiding, abrupt intimacies and unreasonable dislikes 
are of frequent occurrence, and before the day of 
separation, the student of human nature has seen many 
phases exhibited for his analysis. 

Our vessel, the Vigilancia, is a large, commodi- 
ous, and well appointed ship, embracing all the mod- 
ern appliances for comfort and safety at sea. She is 
lighted by electricity, having a donkey engine which 
sets in motion a dynamo machine, converting me- 
chanical energy into electric energy. Perhaps the 
reader, though familiar with the effect of this mode of 
lighting, has never paused to analyze the very simple 
manner in which it is produced. The current is led 
from the dynamos to the various points where light 
is desired by means of insulated wires. The lamps 
consist of a fine thread of carbon inclosed in a glass 



COMMENCEMENT OF A JOURNEY. 3 

bulb from which air has been entirely excluded. This 
offers such resistance to the current passing through 
it that the energy is expended in raising the carbon 
to a white heat, thus forming the light. The per- 
manence of the carbon is insured by the absence of 
oxygen. If the glass bulb is broken and atmospheric 
air comes in contact with the carbon, it is at once 
destroyed by combustion, and all light from this source 
ceases. These lamps are so arranged that each one 
can be turned off or on at will without affecting others. 
The absence of offensive smell or smoke, the steadiness 
of the light, unaffected by the motion of the ship, and 
its superior brilliancy, all join to make this mode of 
lighting a vessel a positive luxury. 

Some pleasant hours were passed on board the 
Vigilancia, between New York and the West Indies, 
in the study of the Gulf Stream, through which we 
were sailing, — that river in the ocean with its banks 
and bottom of cold water, while its current is always 
warm. Who can explain the mystery of its motive 
power ? What keeps its tepid water, in a course of 
thousands of miles, from mingling with the rest of the 
sea ? Whence does it really come ? The accepted theo- 
ries are familiar enough, but we place little reliance 
upon them, the statements of scientists are so easily 
formulated, but often so difficult to prove. As Pro- 
fessor Maury tells us, there is in the world no other 
flow of water so majestic as this ; it has a course more 
rapid than either the Mississippi or the Amazon, and a 
volume more than a thousand times greater. The color 



4 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

of this remarkable stream, whose fountain is supposed 
to be the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, is so 
deep a blue off our southern shore that the line of 
demarcation from its surroundings is quite obvious, 
the Gulf water having apparently a decided reluctance 
to mingling with the rest of the ocean, a peculiarity 
which has been Jong and vainly discussed without a 
satisfactory solution having been reached. The same 
phenomenon has been observed in the Pacific, where 
the Japanese current comes up from the equator, 
along the shore of that country, crossing Behring's 
Sea to the continent of North America, and, turning 
southward along the coast of California, finally dis- 
appears. Throughout all this ocean passage, like the 
Gulf Stream in the Atlantic, it retains its individ- 
uality, and is quite separate from the rest of the 
ocean. The fact that the water is Salter than that of 
the Atlantic is by some supposed to account for the 
indigo blue of the Gulf Stream. 

The temperature of this water is carefully taken on 
board all well regulated ships, and is recorded in the 
log. On this voyage it was found to vary from 75° to 
80° Fahrenheit. 

Our ship had touched at Newport News, Va., after 
leaving New York, to take the U. S. mail on board ; 
thence the course was south-southeast, giving the 
American continent a wide berth, and heading for 
the Danish island of St. Thomas, which lies in the lati- 
tude of Hayti, but a long way to the eastward of that 
uninteresting island. We say uninteresting with due 



PEOPLE OF HAYTI. 5 

consideration, though its history is vivid enough to 
satisfy the most sensational taste. It has produced its 
share of native heroes, as well as native traitors, while 
the frequent upheavals of its mingled races have been 
no less erratic than destructive. The ignorance and 
confusion which reign among the masses on the island 
are deplorable. Minister Douglass utterly failed to 
make anything out of Hayti. The lower classes of 
the people living inland come next to the inhabitants 
of Terra del Fuego in the scale of humanity, and are 
much inferior to the Maoris of New Zealand, or the 
savage tribes of Australia. It is satisfactorily proven 
that cannibalism still exists among them in its most 
repulsive form, so revolting, indeed, that we hesitate 
to detail the experience of a creditable eye-witness re- 
lating to this matter, as personally described to us. 

Upon looking at the map it would seem, to one un- 
accustomed to the ocean, that a ship could not lay her 
course direct, in these island dotted waters, without 
running down one or more of them ; but the distances 
which are so circumscribed upon the chart are ex- 
tended for many a league at sea, and a good navigator 
may sail his ship from New York to Barbadoes, if he 
so desires, without sighting the land. Not a sailing 
vessel or steamship was seen, on the brief voyage from 
the American continent to the West Indies, these 
latitudes being far less frequented by passenger and 
freighting ships than the transatlantic route further 
north. 

It is quite natural that the heart should throb with 



6 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

increased animation, the spirits become more elate, and 
the eyes more than usually appreciative, when the land 
of one's destination heaves in sight after long days and 
nights passed at sea. This is especially the case if the 
change from home scenes is so radical in all particu- 
lars as when coming from our bleak Northern States 
in the early days of spring, before the trees have donned 
their leaves, to the soft temperature and exuberant ver- 
dure of the low latitudes. Commencing the voyage 
herein described, the author left the Brooklyn shore 
of New York harbor about the first of May, during a 
sharp snow-squall, though, as Governor's Island was 
passed on the one hand, and the Statue of Liberty on 
the other, the sun burst forth from its cloudy envi- 
ronment, as if to smile a cheerful farewell. Thus we 
passed out upon the broad Atlantic, bound southward, 
soon feeling its half suppressed force in the regular 
sway and roll of the vessel. She was heavily laden, 
and measured considerably over four thousand tons, 
drawing twenty-two feet of water, yet she was like an 
eggshell upon the heaving breast of the ocean. As 
these mammoth ships lie in port beside the wharf, it 
seems as though their size and enormous weight would 
place them beyond the influence of the wind and 
waves : but the power of the latter is so great as to 
be beyond computation, and makes a mere toy of the 
largest hull that floats. No one can realize the great 
strength of the waves who has not watched the sea in 
all of its varying moods. 

" Land O ! " shouts the lookout on the forecastle. 



A DECEPTIVE ROCK. 7 

A wave of the hand signifies that the occupant of 
the bridge has already made out the mote far away 
upon the glassy surface of the sea, which now rap- 
idly grows into definite form. 

When the mountain which rises near the centre of 
St. Thomas was fairly in view from the deck of the 
Vigilancia, it seemed as if beckoning us to its hos- 
pitable shore. The light breeze which fanned the sea 
came from off the land flavored with an odor of trop- 
ical vegetation, a suggestion of fragrant blossoms, and 
a promise of luscious fruits. On our starboard bow 
there soon came into view the well known Ship Rock, 
which appears, when seen from a short distance, al- 
most precisely like a full-rigged ship under canvas. 
If the sky is clouded and the atmosphere hazy, the 
delusion is remarkable. 

This story is told of a French corvette which was 
cruising in these latitudes at the time when the buc- 
caneers were creating such havoc with legitimate com- 
merce in the West Indies. It seems that the coast 
was partially hidden by a fog, when the corvette 
made out the rock through the haze, and, supposing it 
to be what it so much resembles, a ship under sail, fired 
a gun to leeward for her to heave to. Of course there 
was no response to the shot, so the Frenchman brought 
his ship closer, at the same time clearing for action. 
Being satisfied that he had to do with a powerful 
adversary, he resolved to obtain the advantage by 
promptly crippling the enemy, and so discharged 
the whole of his starboard broadside into the supposed 



8 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

ship, looming through the mist. The fog quietly dis- 
persed as the corvette went about and prepared to 
deliver her port guns in a similar manner. As the 
deceptive rock stood in precisely the same place when 
the guns came once more to bear upon it, the true 
character of the object was discovered. It is doubtful 
whether the Frenchman's surprise or mortification 
predominated. 

An hour of steady progress served to raise the veil 
of distance, and to reveal the spacious bay of Char- 
lotte Amalie, with its strong background of abrupt 
hills and dense greenery of tropical foliage. How 
wonderfully blue was the water round about the island, 
— an emerald set in a sea of molten sapphire ! It 
seemed as if the sky had been melted and poured all 
over the ebbing tide. About the Bahamas, especially 
off the shore at Nassau, the water is green,- — a delicate 
bright green ; here it exhibits only the true azure 
blue, — Mediterranean blue. It is seen at its best and 
in marvelous glow during the brief moments of twi- 
light, when a glance of golden sunset tinges its mottled 
surface with iris hues, like the opaline flashes from a 
humming-bird's throat. 

The steamer gradually lost headway, the vibrating 
hull ceased to throb with the action of its motive 
power, as though pausing to take breath after long 
days and nights of sustained effort, and presently the 
anchor was let go in the excellent harbor of St. 
Thomas, latitude 18° 20' north, longitude 64° 48' 
west. Our forecastle gun, fired to announce arrival, 



EXPERT DIVERS. 9 

awakened the echoes in the hills, so that all seemed to 
join in clapping their hands to welcome us. Thus 
amid the Norwegian fiords the report of the steamer's 
single gun becomes a whole broadside, as it is rever- 
berated from the grim and rocky elevations which line 
that iron-bound coast. 

There was soon gathered about the ship a bevy of 
naked colored boys, a score or more, ja*bbering like a 
lot of monkeys, some in canoes of home construction, 
it would seem, consisting of a sugar box sawed in two 
parts, or a few small planks nailed together, forming 
more of a tub than a boat, and leaking at every joint. 
These frail floats were propelled with a couple of flat 
boards used as paddles. The young fellows came out 
from the shore to dive for sixpences and shillings, 
cast into the sea by passengers. The moment a piece 
of silver was thrown, every canoe was instantly emptied 
of its occupant, all diving pell-mell for the money. 
Presently one of the crowd was sure to come to the 
surface with the silver exhibited above his head between 
his fingers, after which, monkey-like, it was securely 
deposited inside of his cheek. Similar scenes often 
occur in tropical regions. The last which the author 
can recall, and at which he assisted, was at Aden, 
where the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea meet. An- 
other experience of the sort is also well remembered 
as witnessed in the South Pacific off the Samoan 
islands. On this occasion the most expert of the 
natives, among the naked divers, was a young Samoan 
girl, whose agility in the water was such that she easily 



10 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

secured more than half the bright coins which were 
thrown overboard, though a dozen male competitors 
were her rivals in the pursuit. Nothing but an otter 
could have excelled this bronzed, unclad, exquisitely 
formed girl of Tutuila as a diver and swimmer. 

But let us not stray to the far South Pacific, forget- 
ting that we are all this time in the snug harbor of 
St. Thomas, in the West Indies. 

A fidgety old lady passenger, half hidden in an ava- 
lanche of wraps, while the thermometer indicated 80° 
Fahr., one who had gone into partial hysterics several 
times during the past few days, upon the slightest 
provocation, declared that this was the worst region 
for hurricanes in the known world, adding that there 
were dark, ominous clouds forming to windward which 
she was sure portended a cyclone. One might have 
told her truthfully that May was not a hurricane 
month in these latitudes, but we were just then too 
earnestly engaged in preparing for a stroll on shore, 
too full of charming anticipations, to discuss possible 
hurricanes, and so, without giving the matter any spe- 
cial thought, admitted that it did look a little threat- 
ening in the northwest. This was quite enough to 
frighten the old lady half out of her senses, and to 
call the stewardess into prompt requisition, while the 
deck was soon permeated with the odor of camphor, 
sal volatile, and valerian. We did not wait to see 
how she survived the attack, but hastened into a shore 
boat and soon landed at what is known as King's 
wharf, when the temperature seemed instantly to rise 



NATIVE GROUPS. 11 

about twenty degrees. Near the landing was a small 
plaza, shaded by tall ferns and cabbage palms, with 
here and there an umbrageous mango. Ladies and 
servant girls were seen promenading with merry chil- 
dren, whites and blacks mingling indiscriminately, 
while the Danish military band were producing most 
shocking strains with their brass instruments. One 
could hardly conceive of a more futile attempt at 
harmony. 

There is always something exciting in first setting 
foot upon a foreign soil, in mingling with utter stran- 
gers, in listening to the voluble utterances and jargon 
of unfamiliar tongues, while noting the manners, dress, 
and faces of a new people. The current language 
of the mass of St. Thomas is a curious compound of- 
negro grammar, Yankee accent, and English drawl. 
Though somewhat familiar with the West Indies, the 
author had never before landed upon this island. 
Everything strikes one as curious, each turn affords 
increased novelty, and every moment is full of interest. 
Black, yellow, and white men are seen in groups, the 
former with very little covering on their bodies, the 
latter in diaphanous costumes. Negresses sporting 
high colors in their scanty clothing, set off by rainbow 
kerchiefs bound round their heads, turban fashion ; 
little naked blacks with impossible paunches ; here 
and there a shuffling negro bearing baskets of fish 
balanced on either end of a long pole resting across 
his shoulders ; peddlers of shells and corals ; old wo- 
men carrying trays upon their heads containing cakes 



12 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

sprinkled with granulated sugar, and displayed upon 
neat linen towels, seeking for customers among the 
newly arrived passengers, — all together form a unique 
picture of local life. The constantly shifting scene 
moves before the observer like a panorama unrolled 
for exhibition, seeming quite as theatrical and arti- 
ficial. 

St. Thomas is one of the Danish West Indian Islands, 
of which there are three belonging to Denmark, namely, 
St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John. For the posses- 
sion of the first named Mr. Seward, when Secretary 
of State, in 1866, offered the King of Denmark five 
million dollars in gold, which proposition was finally 
accepted, and it would have been a cheap purchase for 
us at that price ; but after all detail had been duly 
agreed upon, the United States Congress refused to 
vote the necessary funds wherewith to pay for the title 
deed. So when Mr. Seward consummated the pur- 
chase of Alaska, for a little over seven million dollars, 
there were nearly enough of the small-fry politicians 
in Congress to defeat the bargain with Russia in the 
same manner. The income from the lease of two is- 
lands alone belonging to Alaska — St. George and St. 
Paul — has paid four and one half per cent, per annum 
upon the purchase money ever since the territory came 
into our possession. There is one gold mine on Douglas 
Island, Alaska, not to mention its other rich and in- 
exhaustible products, for which a French syndicate 
has offered fourteen million dollars. We doubt if St. 
Thomas could be purchased from the Danes to-day for 



IMPORTANCE OF ST. THOMAS. 13 

ten million dollars, while the estimated value of Alaska 
would be at least a hundred million or more, with its 
vast mineral wealth, its invaluable salmon fisheries, its 
inexhaustible forests of giant timber, and its abun- 
dance of seal, otter, and other rich furs. A penny- 
wise and pound-foolish Congress made a huge mistake 
in opposing Mr. Seward's purpose as regarded the 
purchase of St. Thomas. The strategic position of 
the island is quite sufficient to justify our government 
in wishing to possess it, for it is geographically the 
keystone of the West Indies. The principal object 
which Mr. Seward had in view was to secure a coaling 
and refitting station for our national ships in time of 
war, for which St. Thomas would actually be worth 
more than the island of Cuba. Opposite to it is the 
continent of Africa ; equidistant are the eastern shores 
of North and South America ; on one side is western 
Europe, on the other the route to India and the Pa- 
cific Ocean; in the rear are Central America, the 
West Indies, and Mexico, together with those great 
inland bodies of salt water, the Caribbean Sea and 
the Gulf of Mexico. It requires no argument to show 
how important the possession of such an outpost might 
prove to this country. 

Since these notes were written, it is currently re- 
ported that our government has once more awakened 
to the necessity of obtaining possession of this island, 
and fresh negotiations have been entered into. One 
thing is very certain, if we do not seize the opportunity 
to purchase St. Thomas at the present time, England, 



14 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

or some other important power, will promptly do so, 
to our serious detriment and just mortification. 

St. Thomas has an area of nearly fifty square miles, 
and supports a population of about fourteen thousand. 
In many respects the capital is unique, and being our 
first landing-place after leaving home, was of more 
.than ordinary interest to the writer. The highest 
point on the island, which comes first into view from 
the deck of a southern bound steamer, is West Moun- 
tain, rising sixteen hundred feet above the level of 
the surrounding waters. Geologists would describe 
St. Thomas as being the top of a small chain of sub- 
merged mountains, which would be quite correct, since 
the topography of the bottom of the sea is but a coun- 
terpart of that upon the more familiar surface of the 
earth we occupy. When ocean electric cables for 
connecting islands and continents are laid, engineers 
find that there are the same sort of plains, mountains, 
valleys, and gorges beneath as above the waters of the 
ocean. The skeletons of whales, and natural beds 
of deep-sea shells, found in valleys and hills many 
hundred feet above the present level of tide waters, 
tell us plainly enough that in the long ages which 
have passed, the diversified surface of the earth which 
we now behold has changed places with these sub- 
merged regions, which probably once formed the dry 
land. The history of the far past is full of instances 
showing the slow but continuous retreat of the water 
from the land in certain regions and its encroach- 
ment in others, the drying up of lakes and rivers, as 



A LAND-LOCKED HARBOR. 15 

well as the upheaval of single islands and groups from 
the bed of the ocean. 

A range of dome-shaped hills runs through the en- 
tire length of this island of St. Thomas, fifteen miles 
from west to east, being considerably highest at the 
west end. As we passed between the two headlands 
which mark the entrance to the harbor, the town was 
seen spread over three hills of nearly uniform height, 
also occupying the gentle valleys between. Two stone 
structures, on separate hills, form a prominent fea- 
ture ; these are known respectively as Blue Beard and 
Black Beard tower, but their origin is a myth, though 
there are plenty of legends extant about them. Both 
are now utilized as residences, having mostly lost their 
original crudeness and picturesque appearance. The 
town, as a whole, forms a pleasing and effective back- 
ground to the land-locked bay, which is large enough 
to afford safe anchorage for two hundred ships at the 
same time, except when a hurricane prevails ; then the 
safest place for shipping is as far away from the land 
as possible. It is a busy port, considering the small 
number of inhabitants, steamers arriving and depart- 
ing constantly, besides many small coasting vessels 
which ply between this and the neighboring islands. 
St. Thomas is certainly the most available commer- 
cially of the Virgin group of islands. Columbus 
named them "Las Yergines," in reference to the 
familiar Romish legend of the eleven thousand virgins, 
about as inappropriate a title as the fable it refers to 
is ridiculous. 



16 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

Close in shore, at the time of our visit, there lay a 
schooner-rigged craft of more than ordinary interest, 
her jaunty set upon the water, her graceful lines, tall, 
raking masts, and long bowsprit suggesting the model 
of the famous old Baltimore clippers. There is a 
fascinating individuality about sailing-vessels which 
does not attach to steamships. Seamen form roman- 
tic attachments for the former. The officers and crew 
of the Vigilancia were observed to cast admiring eyes 
upon this handsome schooner, anchored under our lee. 
A sort of mysterious quiet hung about her; every 
rope was hauled taut, made fast, and the slack neatly 
coiled. Her anchor was atrip, that is, the cable was 
hove short, showing that she was ready to sail at a 
moment's notice. The only person visible on board 
was a bareheaded, white-haired old seaman, who sat 
on the transom near the wheel, quietly smoking his 
pipe. On inquiry it was found that the schooner had 
a notable history and bore the name of the Vigilant, 
having been first launched a hundred and thirty years 
ago. It appeared that she was a successful slaver in 
former days, running between the coast of Africa and 
these islands. She was twice captured by English 
cruisers, but somehow found her way back again to 
the old and nefarious business. Of course, she had 
been overhauled, repaired, and re-rigged many times, 
but it is still the same old frame and hull that so often 
made the middle passage, as it was called. To-day 
she serves as a mail-boat running between Santa Cruz 
and St. Thomas, and, it is said, can make forty 



THE SUGAR-CANE. 17 

leagues, with a fair wind, as quick as any steamer on 
the coast. The same evening the Vigilant spread her 
broad white wings and glided silently out of the harbor, 
gathering rapid way as she passed its entrance, until 
feeling the spur of the wind and the open sea, she 
quickly vanished from sight. It was easy to imagine 
her bound upon her old piratical business, screened by 
the shadows of the night. 

Though it no longer produces a single article of 
export on its own soil, St. Thomas was, in the days of 
negro slavery, one of the most prolific sugar yielding 
islands of this region. It will be remembered that the 
emancipation of the blacks took place here in 1848. 
It was never before impressed upon us, if we were 
aware of the fact, that the sugar-cane is not indige- 
nous to the West Indies. It seems that the plant came 
originally from Asia, and was introduced into these 
islands by Columbus and his followers. As is often 
the case with other representatives of the vegetable 
kingdom, it appears to have flourished better here 
than in the land of its nativity, new climatic com- 
binations, together with the soil, developing in the 
saccharine plant better qualities and increased pro- 
ductiveness, for a long series of years enriching many 
enterprising planters. 

When Columbus discovered St. Thomas, in 1493, 
it was inhabited by two tribes of Indians, the Caribs 
and the Arrowauks, both of which soon disappeared 
under the oppression and hardships imposed by the 
Spaniards. It is also stated that from this island, as 



18 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

well as from Cuba and Hayti, many natives were 
transported to Spain and there sold into slavery, in 
the days following close upon its discovery. Thus 
Spain, from the earliest date, characterized her oper- 
ations in the New World by a heartlessness and in- 
justice which ever attended upon her conquests, both 
among the islands and upon the continent of Amer- 
ica. The Caribs were of the red Indian race, and 
appear to have been addicted to cannibalism. In- 
deed, the very word, by which the surrounding sea is 
also known, is supposed to be a corruption of the 
name of this tribe. " These Caribs did not eat their 
own babies," says an old writer apologetically, "like 
some sorts of wild beasts, but only roasted and ate 
their prisoners of war." 

The island was originally covered with a dense for- 
est growth, but is now comparatively denuded of trees, 
leaving the land open to the full force of the sun, and 
causing it to suffer at times from serious droughts. 
There is said to be but one natural spring of water 
on the island. This shows itself at the surface, and 
is of very limited capacity ; -the scanty rains which 
occur here are almost entirely depended upon to sup- 
ply water for domestic use. 

St. Thomas being so convenient a port of call for 
steamers from Europe and America, and having so 
excellent a harbor, is improved as a depot for merchan- 
dise by several of the neighboring islands, thus enjoy- 
ing a considerable commerce, though it is only in tran- 
situ. It is also the regular coaling station of several 



SMUGGLING. 19 

steamship lines. Judging from appearances, however, 
it would seem that the town is not growing in popula- 
tion or business relations, but is rather retrograding. 
The value of the imports in 1880 was less than half 
the aggregate amount of 1870. We were told that 
green groceries nearly all come from the United 
States, and that even eggs and poultry are imported 
from the neighboring islands, showing an improvi- 
dence on the part of the people difficult to account 
for, since these sources of food supply can be profita- 
bly produced at almost any spot upon the earth where 
vegetation will grow. Cigars are brought hither from 
Havana in considerable quantities, and having no 
duty to pay, can be sold very cheap by the dealers 
at St. Thomas, and still afford a reasonable profit. 
Quite a trade is thus carried on with the passengers 
of the several steamers which call here regularly, and 
travelers avail themselves of the opportunity to lay 
in an ample supply. Cuban cigars of the quality 
which would cost nine or ten dollars a hundred in 
Boston are sold at St. Thomas for five or six dollars, 
and lower grades even cheaper in proportion. There 
is said to be considerable smuggling successfully car- 
ried on between this island and the Florida shore, in 
the article of cigars as well as in tobacco in the un- 
manufactured state. The high duty on these has 
always incited to smuggling, thus defeating the very 
object for which it is imposed. Probably a moderate 
duty would yield more to the government in the ag- 
gregate, by rendering it so much less of an object to 
smuggle. 



20 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

Though the island is Danish in nationality, there 
are few surroundings calculated to recall the fact, save 
that the flag of that country floats over the old fort 
and the one or two official buildings, just as it has 
done for the last two centuries. The prominent offi- 
cials are Danes, as well as the officers of the small 
body of soldiers maintained on the island. English 
is almost exclusively spoken, though there are French, 
Spanish, and Italian residents here. English is also 
the language taught in the public schools. People 
have come here to make what money they can, but 
with the fixed purpose of spending it and enjoying it 
elsewhere. As a rule, all Europeans who come to 
the West Indies and embark in business do so with 
exactly this purpose. In Cuba the Spaniards from 
the continent, among whom are many Jews, have a 
proverb the significance of which is: "Ten years of 
starvation, and a fortune," and most of them live up 
to this axiom. They leave all principles of honor, 
all sense of moral responsibility, all sacred domestic 
ties, behind them, forgetting, or at least ignoring, the 
significant query, namely, "What shall it profit a man, 
if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" 

About one third of the population is Roman Cath- 
olic. The Jews have a synagogue, and a membership 
of six hundred. They have a record on the island 
dating as far back as the year 1757, and add much 
to the activity and thrift of St. Thomas. No matter 
where we find the Jews, in Mexico, Warsaw, Califor- 
nia, or the West Indies, they are all alike intent upon 



SOCIAL LIFE. 21 

money making, and are nearly always successful. 
Their irrepressible energy wins for them the goal for 
which they so earnestly strive. That soldier of for- 
tune, Santa Anna, formerly ruler of Mexico, when 
banished as a traitor from his native country, made 
his home on this island, and the house which he built 
and occupied is still pointed out to visitors as one of 
the local curiosities. The social life of St. Thomas is 
naturally very circumscribed, but is good so far as it 
goes. A few cultured people, who have made it their 
home for some years, have become sincerely attached 
to the place, and enjoy the climate. There are a small 
public library, a hospital, several charitable institu- 
tions, and a theatre, which is occupied semi-occasion- 
ally. The island is connected with the continent by 
cable, and has a large floating dock and marine rail- 
way, which causes vessels in distress to visit the port 
for needed repairs. The town is situated on the north 
side of the bay which indents the middle of the south 
side of the island. The harbor has a depth of water 
varying from eighteen to thirty-six feet, and has the 
advantage of being a free port, a fact, perhaps, of 
not much account to a place which has neither ex- 
ports nor imports of its own. St. Thomas is the 
only town of any importance on the island, and is 
known locally as Charlotte Amalie, a fact which some- 
times leads to a confusion of ideas. 

. The reader need not encounter the intense heat, 
which so nearly wilted us, in an effort to obtain a 
good lookout from some elevated spot ; but the result 



22 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

will perhaps interest him, as it fully repaid the writer 
for all the consequent discomfort. 

From the brow of a moderate elevation just behind 
the town, a delightful and far-reaching view is af- 
forded, embracing St. Thomas in the foreground, the 
well-sheltered bay, dotted with vessels bearing the 
flags of various nations, an archipelago of islets scat- 
tered over the near waters, and numerous small bays 
indenting the coast. At a distance of some forty 
miles across the sea looms the island of Santa Cruz; 
and farther away, on the horizon's most distant limit, 
are seen the tall hills and mountains of Porto Rico; 
while the sky is fringed by a long trailing plume of 
smoke, indicating the course of some passing steam- 
ship. The three hills upon which the town stands are 
spurs of West Mountain, and the place is quite as 
well entitled to the name of Tremont — "tri -moun- 
tain " — as was the capital of Massachusetts, before 
its hills were laid low to accommodate business de- 
mands. On the seaward side of these elevations the 
red tiled roofs of the white houses rise in regular ter- 
races from the street which borders the harbor, form- 
ing a very picturesque group as seen from the bay. 

Though it has not often been visited by epidemics, 
Mr. Anthony Trollope pronounces the island, in his 
usual irresponsible way, to be "one of the hottest and 
one of the most unhealthy spots among all these hot 
and unhealthy regions," and adds that he would per- 
haps be justified in saying "that of all such spots it 
is the hottest and most unhealthy." This is calcu- 



ATTACKING SHARKS. 23 

lated to give an incorrect idea of St. Thomas. True, 
it is liable to periods of unhealthiness, when a spe- 
cies of low fever prevails, proving more or less fatal. 
This is thought to originate from the surface drainage, 
and the miasma arising from the bay. All the drains 
of the town flow into the waters of the harbor, which 
has not sufficient flow of tide to carry seaward the 
foul matter thus accumulated. The hot sun pouring 
its heat down upon this tainted water causes a dan- 
gerous exhalation. Still, sharks do not seem to be 
sensitive as to this matter, for they much abound. It 
is yet to be discovered why these tigers of the sea do 
not attack the negroes, who fearlessly leap overboard ; 
a white man could not do this with impunity. The 
Asiatics of the Malacca Straits do not enjoy any such 
immunity from danger, though they have skins as dark 
as the divers of St. Thomas. Sharks appear in the 
West Indies in small schools, or at least there are 
nearly always two or three together, but in Oriental 
waters they are only seen singly. Thus a Malay of 
Singapore, for a compensation, say an English sover- 
eign, will place a long, sharp knife between his teeth 
and leap naked into the sea to attack a shark. He 
adroitly dives beneath the creature, and as it turns 
its body to bring its awkward mouth into use, with 
his knife the Malay slashes a deep, long opening in 
its exposed belly, at the same time forcing himself out 
of the creature's reach. The knife is sure and fatal. 
After a few moments the huge body of the fish is seen 
to rise and float lifeless upon the surface of the water. 



24 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

A large majority of the people are colored, exhibit- 
ing some peculiarly interesting types, intermarriage 
with whites of various nationalities having produced 
among the descendants of Africans many changes of 
color and of features. One feels sure that there is 
also a trace of Carib or Indian blood mingled with 
the rest, — a trace of the aborigines whom Columbus 
found here. The outcome is not entirely a race with 
flat noses and protruding lips; straight Grecian pro- 
files are not uncommon, accompanied by thin nostrils 
and Anglo-Saxon lips. Faultless teeth, soft blue 
eyes, and hair nearly straight are sometimes met with 
among the Creoles. As to the style of walking and 
of carrying the head and body, the common class of 
women of St. Thomas have arrived at perfection. 
Some of them are notable examples of unconscious 
dignity and grace combined. This has been brought 
about by carrying burdens upon their heads from 
childhood, without the supporting aid of the hands. 
Modesty, or rather conventionality, does not require 
boys or girls under eight years of age to encumber 
themselves with clothing. The costume of the market 
women and the lower classes generally is picturesque, 
composed of a Madras kerchief carefully twisted into 
a turban of many colors, yellow predominating, a 
cotton chemise which leaves the neck and shoulders 
exposed, reaching just below the knees, the legs and 
feet being bare. The men wear cotton drawers reach- 
ing nearly to the knee, the rest of the body being un- 
covered, except the head, which is usually sheltered 



TROPICAL FERTILITY. 25 

under a broad brimmed straw hat, the sides of which 
are perforated by many ventilating holes. The whites 
generally, and also the better class of natives, dress 
very much after the fashion which prevails in North 
America. 

This is the negroes' paradise, but it is a climate in 
which the white race gradually wanes. The heat of 
the tropics is modified by the constant and grateful 
trade winds, a most merciful dispensation, without 
which the West Indies would be uninhabitable by 
man. On the hillsides of St. Thomas these winds 
insure cool nights at least, and a comparatively tem- 
perate state of the atmosphere during the day. Veg- 
etation is abundant, the fruit-trees are perennial, bear- 
ing leaf, blossom, and fruit in profusion, month after 
month, year after year. Little, if any, cultivation is 
required. The few sugar plantations which are still 
carried on yield from three to four successive years 
without replanting. It is a notable fact that where 
vegetation is at its best, where the soil is most rank 
and prolific, where fruits and flowers grow in wild 
exuberance, elevated humanity thrives the least. The 
lower the grade of man, the nearer he approximates to 
the animals, the less civilized he is in mind and body, 
the better he appears to be adapted to such localities. 
The birds and the butterflies are in exact harmony 
with the loveliness of tropical nature, however prolific 
she may be; the flowers are glorious and beautiful: 
it is man alone who seems out of place. A great 
variety of fruits are indigenous here, such as the 



26 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

orange, lime, alligator pear, moss-apple, and mango, 
but none of them are cultivated to any extent; the 
people seem to lack the energy requisite to improve 
the grand possibilities of their fertile soil and prolific 
climate. 

We were reminded by a resident of the town, 
before we left the harbor of St. Thomas, that the ner- 
vous old lady referred to was not entirely without rea- 
son for her anxiety. Some of our readers will remem- 
ber, perhaps, that in October, 1867, a most disastrous 
hurricane swept over these Virgin Islands, leaving 
widespread desolation in its track. The shipping 
which happened to be in the bay of St. Thomas was 
nearly all destroyed, together with hundreds of lives, 
while on the land scores of houses and many lives were 
also sacrificed to the terrible cyclone of that date. 
Even the thoroughly built iron and stone lighthouse 
was completely obliterated. There is a theory that 
such visitations come in this region about once in 
every twelve or fifteen years, and upon looking up the 
matter we find them to have occurred, with more or 
less destructive force, in the years 1793, 1819, 1837, 
1867, 1871, and so late as August, 1891. Other hur- 
ricanes have passed over these islands during the pe- 
riod covered by these dates, but of a mitigated char- 
acter. August, September, and October are the 
months in which the hurricanes are most likely to 
occur, and all vessels navigating the West Indian seas 
during these months take extra precautions to secure 
themselves against accidents from this source. When 



HEROISM DURING A CYCLONE. 27 

such visitations happen, the event is sure to develop 
heroic deeds. In the hurricane of 1867, the captain 
of a Spanish man-of-war, who was a practical sailor, 
brought up from boyhood upon the ocean, seeing the 
oncoming cyclone, and knowing by experience what to 
expect, ordered the masts of his vessel to be cut away 
at once, and every portion of exposed top hamper to 
be cast into the sea. When thus stripped he exposed 
little but the bare hull of his steamer to the fury 
of the storm. After the cyclone had passed, it was 
found that he had not lost a man, and that the steam- 
er's hull, though severely battered, was substantially 
unharmed. Keeping up all steam during the awful 
scene, this captain devoted himself and his ship to the 
saving of human life, promptly taking his vessel wher- 
ever he could be of the most service. Hundreds of 
seamen were saved from death by the coolness and 
intrepidity of this heroic sailor. 

Since these notes were written among the islands, 
a terrible cyclone has visited them. This was on 
August 18, last past, and proved more destructive to 
human life, to marine and other property, than any 
occurrence of the kind during the last century. At 
Martinique a sharp shock of earthquake added to the 
horror of the occasion, the town of Fort de France 
being very nearly leveled with the ground. Many tall 
and noble palms, the growth of half a hundred years, 
were utterly demolished in the twinkling of an eye, 
and other trees were uprooted by the score. 

The waters of this neighborhood teem with strange 



28 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

forms of animal and vegetable life. Here we saw 
specimens of red and blue snappers, the angel-fish, 
king-fish, gurnets, cow-fish, whip-ray, peacock-fish, 
zebra-fish, and so on, all, or nearly all, unfamiliar to 
us, each species individualized either in shape, color, 
or both. The whip-ray, with a body like a flounder, 
has a tail six or seven feet long, tapering from an inch 
and over to less than a quarter of an inch at the small 
end. When dried, it still retains a degree of elasti- 
city, and is used by the natives as a whip with which to 
drive horses and donkeys. In some places, so singu- 
larly clear is the water that the bottom is distinctly 
visible five or six fathoms below the surface, where 
fishes of various sorts are seen in ceaseless motion. 
White shells, corals, star-fish, and sea-urchins mingle 
their various forms and colors, objects and hues seem- 
ing to be intensified by the strong reflected light from 
the surface, so that one could easily fancy them to be 
flowers blooming in the fairy gardens of the mermaids. 
The early morning, just after the sun begins to gild 
the surface of the sea, is the favorite time for the fly- 
ing-fishes to display their aerial proclivities. They 
are always attracted by a strong light, and are thus 
lured to their destruction by the torches of the fisher- 
men, who often go out for the purpose at night and 
take them in nets. In the early morning, as seen 
from the ship's deck, they scoot above the rippling 
waves in schools of a hundred and more, so compact 
as to cast fleeting shadows over the blue enameled 
surface of the waters. At St. Thomas, Martinique, 



A COALING STATION. 29 

and Barbadoes, as well as among the other islands 
bordering the Caribbean Sea, they form no inconsid- 
erable source of food for the humble natives, who fry 
them in batter mixed with onions, making a savory 
and nutritious dish. 

St. Thomas is, as we have said, a coaling station 
for steamships, and when the business is in progress 
a most unique picture is presented. The ship is 
moored alongside of the dock for this purpose, two 
side ports being thrown open, one for ingress, the 
other for egress. A hundred women and girls, wear- 
ing one scanty garment reaching to the knees, are in 
line, and commence at once to trot on board in sin- 
gle file, each one bearing a bushel basket of coal upon 
her head, weighing, say sixty pounds. Another gang 
fill empty baskets where the coal is stored, so that 
there is a continuous line of negresses trotting into 
the ship at one port and, after dumping their loads into 
the coal bunkers, out at the other, hastening back 
to the source of supply for more. Their step is quick, 
their pose straight as an arrow, while their feet keep 
time to a wild chant in which all join, the purport of 
which it is not possible to clearly understand. Now 
and again their voices rise in softly mingled harmony, 
floating very sweetly over the still waters of the bay. 
The scene we describe occurred at night, but the moon 
had not yet risen. Along the wharf, to the coal de- 
posits, iron frames were erected containing burning 
bituminous coal, and the blaze, fanned by the open 
air, formed the light by which the women worked. 



30 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

It was a weird picture. Everything seemed quite in 
harmony: the hour, the darkness of night relieved 
by the naming brackets of coal, the strange, dark 
figures hastening into the glare of light and quickly 
vanishing, the harmony of high-pitched voices occa- 
sionally broken in upon by the sharp, stern voice of 
their leader, — all was highly dramatic and effective. 

Not unf requently three or four steamers are coaling 
at the same time from different wharves. Hundreds 
of women and girls of St. Thomas make this labor 
their special occupation, and gain a respectable living 
by it, doubtless supporting any number of lazy, worth- 
less husbands, fathers, and brothers. 

After our ship was supplied with coal, these women, 
having put three hundred tons on board in a surpris- 
ingly short period of time, formed a group upon the 
wharf and held what they called a firefly dance, in- 
describably quaint and grotesque, performed by the 
flickering light of the flaming coal. Their voices 
were joined in a wild, quick chant, as they twisted and 
turned, clapping their hands at intervals to empha- 
size the chorus. Now and again a couple of the girls 
would separate from the rest for a moment, then dance 
toward and from each other, throwing their arms 
wildly about their heads, and finally, gathering their 
scanty drapery in one hand and extending the other, 
perform a movement similar to the French cancan. 
Once more springing back among their companions, 
all joined hands, and a roundabout romp closed the 
firefly dance. Could such a scene be produced in a 



ANCIENT ANCHOR. 31 

city theatre au naturd, with proper accessories and 
by these actual performers, it would surely prove an 
attraction good for one hundred nights. Of course 
this would be impossible. Conventionality would ob- 
ject to such diaphanous costumes, and bare limbs, 
though they were of a bronzed hue, would shock Puri- 
tanic eyes. 

Upon first entering the harbor, the Vigilancia an- 
chored at a short distance from the shore; but when 
it became necessary to haul alongside the wharf, the 
attempt was made to get up the anchor, when it was 
found to require far more than the usual expenditure 
of power to do so. Finally, however, the anchor was 
secured, but attached to its flukes there came also, 
from the bottom of the bay, a second anchor, of an- 
tique shape, covered with rust and barnacles. It was 
such a one as was carried by the galleons of the fif- 
teenth century, and had doubtless lain for over four 
hundred years just where the anchor of our ship had 
got entangled with it. What a remarkable link this 
corroded piece of iron formed, uniting the present with 
the far past, and how it stimulated the mind in form- 
ing romantic possibilities ! It may have been the 
holding iron of Columbus's own caravel, or have been 
the anchor of one of Cortez's fleet, which touched here 
on its way into the Gulf of Mexico, or, indeed, it may 
have belonged to some Caribbean buccaneer, who was 
obliged to let slip his cable and hasten away to escape 
capture. 

It was deemed a fortunate circumstance to have 



32 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

secured this ancient relic, and a sure sign of future 
good luck to the ship, so it was duly stored away in 
the lower hold of the Vigilancia. 

That same night on which the coal bunkers were 
filled, our good ship was got under way, while the ris- 
ing moon made the harbor and its surroundings as 
clearly visible as though it were midday. The light 
from the burning coal brackets had waned, only a few 
sparks bursting forth now and again, disturbed by a 
passing breeze which fanned them into life for a mo- 
ment. When we passed through the narrow entrance 
by the lighthouse, and stood out once more upon the 
open sea, it was mottled, far and near, with argent 
ripples, that waltzed merrily in the soft, clear moon- 
light, rivaling the firefly dance on shore. Even to 
the very horizon the water presented a white, silvery, 
tremulous sheen of liquid light. One gazed in silent 
enjoyment until the eyes were weary with the lavish 
beauty of the scene, and the brain became giddy with 
its splendor. Is it idle and commonplace to be en- 
thusiastic ? Perhaps so ; but we hope never to outlive 
such inspiration. 



CHAPTER II. 

Curious Seaweed. — Professor Agassiz. — Myth of a Lost Continent. — 
Island of Martinique. — An Attractive Place. — Statue of the 
Empress Josephine. — Birthplace of Madame de Maintenon. — 
City of St. Pierre. — Mont Pele'e. — High Flavored Specialty. — 
Grisettes of Martinique. — A Botanical Garden. — Defective Drain- 
age. — A Fatal Enemy. — A Cannibal Snake. — The Climate. 

Between St. Thomas and the island of Martinique, 
we fell in with some floating seaweed, so peculiar 
in appearance that an obliging quartermaster picked 
up a spray for closer examination. It is a strange, 
sponge-like plant, which propagates itself on the 
ocean, unharmed by the fiercest agitation of the 
waves, or the wildest raging of the winds, at the same 
time giving shelter to zoophytes and mollusks of a 
species, like itself, found nowhere else. Sailors call 
it Gulf weed, but it has nothing to do with the Gulf 
Stream, though sometimes clusters get astray and are 
carried far away on the bosom of that grand ocean 
current. The author has seen small bodies of it, after 
a fierce storm in the Caribbean Sea, a thousand miles 
to the eastward of Barbadoes. Its special home is a 
broad space of ocean surface between the Gulf Stream 
and the equatorial current, known as the Sargasso 
Sea. Its limits, however, change somewhat with the 
seasons. It was first noticed by Columbus in 1492, 



34 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

and in this region it has remained for centuries, even 
to the present day. Sometimes this peculiar weed 
is so abundant as to present the appearance of a sub- 
merged meadow, through which the ship ploughs its 
way as though sailing upon the land. We are told 
that Professor Agassiz, while at sea, having got pos- 
session of a small branch of this marine growth, kept 
himself busily absorbed with it and its products for 
twelve hours, forgetting all the intervening meals. 
Science was more than food and drink to this grand 
savant. His years from boyhood were devoted to the 
study of nature in her various forms. "Life is so 
short," said he, "one can hardly find space to become 
familiar with a single science, much less to acquire 
knowledge of many." When he was applied to by a 
lyceum committee to come to a certain town and lec- 
ture, he replied that he was too busy. "But we will 
pay you double price, Mr. Agassiz, if you will come," 
said the applicant. "I cannot waste time to make 
money," was the noble reply. 

The myth of a lost continent is doubtless familiar to 
the reader, — a continent supposed to have existed in 
these waters thousands of years ago, but which, by 
some evolution of nature, became submerged, sinking 
from sight forever. It was the Atlantis which is men- 
tioned by Plato ; the land in which the Elysian Fields 
were placed, and the Garden of Hesperides, from 
which the early civilization of Greece, Egypt, and 
Asia Minor were derived, and whose kings and heroes 
were the Olympian deities of a later time. The poet- 



MARTINIQUE. 35 

ical idea prevails that this plant, which once grew in 
those gardens, having lost its original home, has be- 
come a floating waif on the sapphire sea of the trop- 
ics. The color of the Sargasso weed is a faint orange 
shade ; the leaves are pointed, delicate, and exquisitely 
formed, like those of the weeping willow in their 
youthful freshness, having a tiny, round, light-green 
berry near the base of each leaf. Mother Cary's 
chickens are said to be fond of these berries, and 
that bird abounds in these waters. 

Probably the main portion of the West Indian is- 
lands was once a part of the continent of America, 
many, many ages ago. There are trees of the locust 
family growing among the group to-day, similar to 
those found on our southern coast, which are declared 
to be four thousand years old. This statement is par- 
tially corroborated by known characteristics ©f the 
growth of the locust, and there are arborists who fully 
credit this great longevity. It is interesting to look 
upon an object which had a vital existence two thou- 
sand years and more before Christ was upon earth, 
and which is still animate. 

Each new island which one visits in the West In- 
dies seems more lovely than its predecessor, always 
leaving Hayti out of the question ; but Martinique, at 
this moment of writing, appears to rival all those with 
which the author is familiar. It might be a choice 
bit out of Cuba, Singapore, or far-away Hawaii. Its 
liability to destructive hurricanes is its only visible 



36 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

drawback. Having been discovered on St. Martin's 
day, Columbus gave it the name it now bears. 

St. Pierre is the commercial capital of Martinique, 
one of the French West Indies, and the largest of the 
group belonging to that nation. Fort de France is 
the political capital, situated about thirty miles from 
St. Pierre. It was nearly ruined by the cyclone of 
last August, a few weeks after the author's visit. St. 
Pierre is the best built town in the Lesser Antilles, 
and has a population of about twenty -five thousand. 
The streets are well paved, and the principal avenues 
are beautified by ornamental trees uniformly planted. 
The grateful shade thus obtained, and the long lines 
of charming arboreal perspective which are formed, 
are desirable accessories to any locality, but doubly so 
in tropical regions. The houses are very attractive, 
while there is a prevailing aspect of order, cleanliness, 
and thrift everywhere apparent. It was not our 
experience to meet one beggar in the streets of St. 
Pierre. More or less of poverty must exist every- 
where, but it does not stalk abroad here, as it does in 
many rich and pretentious capitals of the great world. 
The island is situated midway between Dominica and 
St. Lucia, and is admitted by all visitors to be one 
of the most picturesque of the West Indian groups. 
Irregular in shape, it is also high and rocky, thus 
forming one of the most prominent of the large vol- 
canic family which sprang up so many ages ago in 
these seas. Its apex, Mont Pelee, an only partially 
extinct volcano, rises between four and five thousand 



INTERESTING MONUMENT. 37 

feet above the level of the ocean, and is the first point 
visible on approaching the island from the north. It 
would be interesting to dilate upon the past history of 
Martinique, for it has known not a little of the check- 
ered vicissitudes of these Antilles, having been twice 
captured by the English, and twice restored to France. 
But this would not be in accordance with the design 
of these pages. 

St. Pierre is situated on the lee side of the island, 
something less than two thousand miles, by the course 
we have steered, from New York, and three hundred 
miles from St. Thomas. It comes down to the very 
water's edge, with its parti-colored houses and red-tiled 
roofs, which mingle here and there with tall, overhang- 
ing cocoa-palms. This is the most lavishly beautiful 
tree in the world, and one which never fails to impart 
special interest to its surroundings. 

A marble statue in the Place de la Savane, at Port 
de France, on the same side of the island as St. 
Pierre, recalls the fact that this was the birthplace 
of the Empress Josephine, born in 1763. Her memo- 
rable history is too familiar for us to repeat any por- 
tion of it here, but the brain becomes very active at 
the mere mention of her name, in recalling the ro- 
mantic and tragic episodes of her life, so closely inter- 
woven with the career of the first Napoleon. One 
instinctively recalls the small boudoir in the palace 
of Trianon, where her husband signed the divorce 
from Josephine. That he loved her with his whole 
power for loving is plain enough, as is also his well- 



38 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

known reason for the separation, namely, the desire 
for offspring to transmit his name to posterity. There 
is one legend which is always rehearsed to strangers, 
relating to Josephine's youth upon the island. We 
refer to that of the old negress fortune-teller who prog- 
nosticated the grandeur of her future career, together 
with its melancholy termination, a story so tinctured 
with local color that, if it be not absolutely true, it 
surely ought to be. The statue, unless We are misin- 
formed, was the gift of that colossal fraud, Napoleon 
III., though it purports to have been raised to the 
memory of Josephine by the people of Martinique, 
who certainly feel great pride in the fact of her hav- 
ing been born here, and who truly venerate her mem- 
ory. The statue represents the empress dressed in the 
fashion of the First Empire, with bare arms and shoul- 
ders, one hand resting on a medallion bearing a pro- 
file of the emperor to whom she was devoted. The 
whole is partially shaded by a half dozen grand old 
palms. The group teems with historic suggestiveness, 
recalling one of the most tragic chapters of modern 
European history. It seemed to us that the artist had 
succeeded in imparting to the figure an expression in- 
dicating something of the sad story of the original. 

This beautiful island, it will be remembered, also 
gave to France another remarkable historic character, 
Francoise d'Aubigne, afterwards Madame Scarron, 
but better known to the world at large as Madame de 
Maintenon. She, too, was the wife of a king, though 
the marriage was a left-handed one, but as the power 



GRISETTES IN EBONY. 39 

behind the throne, she is well known to have shaped 
for years the political destinies of France. 

St. Pierre has several schools, a very good hotel, 
a theatre, a public library, together with some other 
modern and progressive institutions; yet somehow 
everything looked quaint and olden, a sixteenth century 
atmosphere seeming to pervade the town. The win- 
dows of the ordinary dwellings have no glass, which is 
very naturally considered to be a superfluity in this 
climate. ; but these windows have iron bars and wooden 
shutters behind them, relics of the days of slavery, 
when every white man's house was his castle, and 
great precautions were taken to guard against the 
possible uprising of the blacks, who outnumbered 
their masters twenty to one. 

Though so large a portion of the population are of 
negro descent, yet they are very French-like in char- 
acter. The native women especially seem to be friv- 
olous and coquettish, not to say rather lax in morals. 
They appear to be very fond of dress. The young 
negresses have learned from their white mistresses how 
to put on their diaphanous clothing in a jaunty and 
telling fashion, leaving one bronzed arm and shoulder 
bare, which strikes the eye in strong contrast with the 
snow white of their cotton chemises. They are Pari- 
sian grisettes in ebony, and with their large, roguish 
eyes, well-rounded figures, straight pose, and dainty 
ways, the half-breeds are certainly very attractive, 
and only too ready for a lark with a stranger. They 
strongly remind one of the pretty quadroons of Louisi- 



40 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

ana, in their manners, complexion, and general ap- 
pearance; and like those handsome offspring of min- 
gled blood, so often seen in our Southern States, we 
suspect that these of Martinique enjoy but a brief 
space of existence. The average life of a quadroon 
is less than thirty years. 

Martinique is eight times as large as St. Thomas, 
containing a population of about one hundred and sev- 
enty-five thousand. Within its borders there are at 
least five extinct volcanoes, one of which has an enor- 
mous crater, exceeded by only three or four others in 
the known world. The island rises from the sea in 
three groups of rugged peaks, and contains some very 
fertile valleys. So late as 1851, Mont Pelee burst 
forth furiously with flames and smoke, which naturally 
threw the people into a serious panic, many persons 
taking refuge temporarily on board the shipping in 
the harbor. The eruption on this occasion did not 
amount to anything very serious, only covering some 
hundreds of acres with sulphurous debris, yet serving 
to show that the volcano was not dead, but sleeping. 
Once or twice since that date ominous mutterings have 
been heard from Mont Pelee, which it is confidently 
predicted will one day deluge St. Pierre with ashes 
and lava, repeating the story of Pompeii. 

Sugar, rum, coffee, and cotton are the staple prod- 
ucts here, supplemented by tobacco, manioc flour, 
bread-fruit, and bananas. Rum is very extensively 
manufactured, and has a good mercantile reputation 
for its excellence, commanding as high prices as the 



ISLAND PRODUCTS. 41 

more famous article of the same nature produced at 
Jamaica. The purpose of the author is mainly to 
record personal impressions, but a certain sprinkling 
of statistics and detail is inevitable, if we would in- 
form, as well as amuse, the average reader. 

The flora of Martinique is the marvel and delight of 
all who have enjoyed its extraordinary beauty, while 
the great abundance and variety of its fruits are be- 
lieved to be unsurpassed even in the prolific tropics. 
Of that favorite, the mango, the island produces some 
forty varieties, and probably in no other region has 
the muscatel grape reached to such perfection in size 
and flavor. The whole island looks like a maze of 
greenery, as it is approached from the sea, vividly 
recalling Tutuila of the Samoan group in the South 
Pacific. Like most of the West Indian islands, 
Martinique was once densely covered with trees, and 
a remnant of these ancient woods creeps down to the 
neighborhood of St. Pierre to-day. 

The principal landing is crowded at all times with 
hogsheads of sugar and molasses, and other casks 
containing the highly scented island rum, the two 
sweets, together with the spirits, causing a nauseous 
odor under the powerful heat of a vertical sun. We 
must not forget to mention, however, that St. Pierre 
has a specific for bad odors in her somewhat peculiar 
specialty, namely, eau-de-cologne, which is manufac- 
tured on this island, and is equal to the European 
article of the same name, distilled at the famous city 
on the Rhine. No one visits the port, if it be for but 



42 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

a single day, without bringing away a sample bottle 
of this delicate perfumery, a small portion of which, 
added to the morning bath, is delightfully refreshing, 
especially when one uses salt water at sea, it so 
effectively removes the saline stickiness which is apt 
to remain upon the limbs and body after a cold bath. 

The town is blessed with an inexhaustible supply of 
good, fresh, mountain water, which, besides furnish- 
ing the necessary quantity for several large drinking 
fountains, feeds some ornamental ones, and purifies 
the streets by a flow through the gutters, after the 
fashion of Salt Lake City, Utah. This is in fact 
the only system of drainage at St. Pierre. A bronze 
fountain in the Place Bertin is fed from this source, 
and is an object of great pleasure in a climate where 
cold water in abundance is an inestimable boon. 
This elaborate fountain was the gift of a colored man, 
named Alfred Agnew, who was at one time mayor 
of the city. Many of the gardens attached to the 
dwelling - houses are ornamented with ever -flowing 
fountains, which impart a refreshing coolness to the 
tropical atmosphere. 

The Rue Victor Hugo is the main thoroughfare, 
traversing the whole length of the town parallel with 
the shore, up hill and down, crossing a small bridge, 
and finally losing itself in the environs. It is nicely 
kept, well paved, and, though it is rather narrow, it 
is the Broadway of St. Pierre. Some of the streets 
are so abrupt in grade as to recall similar avenues in 
the English portion of Hong Kong, too steep for the 



NATIVES OF MARTINIQUE. 43 

passage of vehicles, or even for donkeys, being as- 
cended by means of much worn stone steps. Fine, 
broad roadways surround the town and form pleasant 
drives. 

The cathedral has a sweet chime of bells, whose 
soft, liquid notes came to us across the water of the 
bay with touching cadence at the Angelus hour. It 
must be a sadly calloused heart which fails to respond 
to these twilight sounds in an isle of the Caribbean 
Sea. Millet's impressive picture was vividly recalled 
as we sat upon the deck and listened to those bells, 
whose notes floated softly upon the air as if bidding 
farewell to the lingering daylight. At the moment, 
all else being so still, it seemed as though one's heart- 
beat could be heard, while the senses were bathed in a 
tranquil gladness incited by the surrounding scenery 
and the suggestiveness of the hour. 

Three fourths of the population are half-breeds, 
born of whites, blacks, or mulattoes, with a possible 
strain of Carib blood in their veins, the result of 
which is sometimes a very handsome type of bronzed 
hue, but of Circassian features. Some of the young 
women of the better class are very attractive,, with 
complexions of a gypsy color, like the artists' models 
who frequent the "Spanish Stairs" leading to the 
Trinita di Monti, at Rome. These girls possess deep, 
dark eyes, pearly teeth, with good figures, upright 
and supple as the palms. In dress they affect all the 
colors of the rainbow, presenting oftentimes a charm- 
ing audacity of contrasts, and somehow it seems to be 



44 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

quite the tiling for them to do so; it accords perfectly 
with their complexions, with the climate, with every- 
thing tropical. The many-colored Madras kerchief 
is universally worn by the common class of women, 
twisted into a jaunty turban, with one well-starched 
end ingeniously arranged so as to stand upright like a 
soldier's plume. The love of ornament is displayed 
by the wearing of hoop earrings of enormous size, to- 
gether with triple strings of gold beads, and bracelets 
of the same material. If any one imagines he has 
seen larger sized hoop earrings this side of Africa, he 
is mistaken. They are more like bangles than ear- 
rings, hanging down so as to rest upon the neck and 
shoulders. Those who cannot afford the genuine ar- 
ticle satisfy their vanity with gaudy imitations. They 
form a very curious and interesting study, these black, 
brown, and yellow people, both men and women. In 
the market-place at the north end of the town, the 
women preside over their bananas, oranges, and other 
fruits, in groups, squatting like Asiatics on their heels. 
In the Havana fish market, one compares the variety 
of colors exhibited by the fishes exposed for sale to 
those of the kaleidoscope, but here the Cuban display 
is equaled if not surpassed. 

St. Pierre has a botanical garden, situated about a 
mile from the centre of the town, so located as to ad- 
mit of utilizing a portion of the native forest yet left 
standing, with here and there an impenetrable growth 
of the feathery bamboo, king of the grasses, inter- 
spersed with the royal palm and lighter green tree- 



A BOTANICAL GARDEN. 45 

ferns. The bamboo is a marvel, single stems of it 
often attaining a height in tropical regions of a hun- 
dred and seventy feet, and a diameter of a foot. So 
rapid is its growth that it is sometimes known to at- 
tain the height of a hundred feet in sixty days. Art 
has done something to improve the advantages af- 
forded by nature in this botanical garden, arranging 
some pretty lakes, fountains, and cascades. Vistas 
have been cut through the dense undergrowth, and 
driveways have been made, thus improving the rather 
neglected grounds. One pretty lake of considerable 
size contains three or four small islands, covered with 
flowering plants, while on the shore are pretty summer- 
houses and inviting arbors. The frangipanni, tall and 
almost leafless, but with thick, fleshy shoots and a 
broad-spread, single leaf, was recognized here among 
other interesting plants. This is the fragrant flower 
mentioned by the early discoverers. There was also 
the parti-colored passion-flower, and. groups of odd- 
shaped cacti, whose thick, green leaves were daintily 
rimmed with an odorless yellow bloom. Here, also, 
is an interesting example of the ceba-tree, in whose 
shade a hundred persons might banquet together. 
The author has seen specimens of the ceba superbly 
developed in Cuba and the Bahamas, with its massive 
and curiously buttressed trunk, having the large roots 
half above ground. It is a solitary tree, growing to 
a large size and enjoying great longevity. Mangoes 
abound here, the finest known as the mango d'or. 
There is a certain air about the public garden of 



46 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

St. Pierre, indicating that nature is permitted in a 
large degree to have her own sweet will. Evidences 
enough remain to show the visitor that these grounds 
must once have been in a much more presentable con- 
dition. There is a musical cascade, which is well 
worth a long walk to see and enjoy. Just inside of 
the entrance, one spot was all ablaze with a tiny yellow 
flower, best known to us as English broom, Cytisus 
genista. Its profuse but delicate bloom was dazzling 
beneath the bright sun's rays. Could it possibly be 
indigenous? No one could tell us. Probably some 
resident brought it hither from his home across the 
ocean, and it has kindly adapted itself to the new soil 
and climate. 

We were cautioned to look out for and to avoid 
a certain poisonous snake, a malignant reptile, with 
fatal fangs, which is the dread of the inhabitants, 
some of whom are said to die every year from the 
venom of the creature. It will be remembered that 
one of these snakes, known here as the fer-de-lance, 
bit Josephine, the future empress, when she was very 
young, and that her faithful negro nurse saved the 
child's life by instantly drawing the poison from the 
wound with her own lips. It is singular that this is- 
land, and that of St. Lucia, directly south of it, should 
be cursed by the presence of these poisonous creatures, 
which do not exist in any other of the West Indian 
islands, and, indeed, so far as we know, are not to be 
found anywhere else. The fer-de-lance has one fatal 
enemy. This is a large snake, harmless so far as 



A POISONOUS SNAKE. 47 

poisonous fangs are concerned, called the cribo. This 
reptile fearlessly attacks the f er-de-lance, and kills and 
eats him in spite of his venom, a perfectly justifiable if 
not gratifying instance of cannibalism, where a creature 
eats and relishes the body of one of its own species. 
The domestic cat is said also to be more than a match 
for the dreaded snake, and instinctively adopts a style 
of attack which, while protecting itself, finally closes 
the contest by the death of the fer-de-lance, which it 
seizes just back of the head at the spine, and does not 
let go until it has severed the head from the body ; 
and even then instinct teaches the cat to avoid the 
head, for though it be severed from the body, like the 
mouth of a turtle under similar circumstances, it can 
still inflict a serious wound. 

The fer-de-lance is a great destroyer of rats, this 
rodent forming its principal source of food. Now as 
rats are almost as much of a pest upon the island, and 
especially on the sugar plantations, as rabbits are in 
New Zealand, it will be seen that even the existence 
of this poisonous snake is not an unmitigated evil. 

Crosses and wayside shrines of a very humble char- 
acter are to be seen in all directions on the roadsides 
leading from St. Pierre, recalling similar structures 
which line the inland roads of Japan, where the local 
religion finds like public expression, only varying in 
the character of the emblems. At Martinique it is 
a Christ or a Madonna; in Japan it is a crude idol 
of some sort, the more hideous, the more appropriate. 
The same idea is to be seen carried out in the streets 



48 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

of Canton and Shanghai, only Chinese idols are a de- 
gree more unlike anything upon or below *the earth 
than they are elsewhere. 

It was observed that while there were plenty of 
masculine loafers and careless idlers of various colors, 
whose whole occupation seemed to be sucking at some 
form of burning tobacco in the shape of cigarette, 
cigar, or pipe, the women, of whatever complexion, 
seen in public, were all usefully employed. They are 
industrious by instinct; one almost never sees them 
in repose. In the transportation of all articles of 
domestic use, women bear them upon their heads, 
whether the article weighs one pound or fifty, balan- 
cing their load without making use of the hands 
except to place the article in position. The women 
not infrequently have also a baby upon their backs 
at the same time. Negresses and donkeys perform 
nine tenths of the transportation of merchandise. 
Wheeled vehicles are very little used in the West 
Indian islands. As we have seen, even in coaling 
ship, it is the women who do the work. 

The Hotel des Bains, at St. Pierre, is an excellent 
hostelry, as such places go in this part of the world. 
The stranger will find here most of the requisites for 
domestic comfort, and at reasonable prices. As a 
health resort the place has its advantages, and a 
northern invalid, wishing to escape the rigor of a New 
England winter, would doubtless find much to occupy 
and recuperate him here. St. Pierre, however, has 
times of serious epidemic sickness, though this does 



TROPICAL SUNRISE. 49 

not often happen in the winter season. Three or four 
years ago the island was visited by a sweeping epi- 
demic of small-pox, but it raged almost entirely among 
the lowest classes, principally among the negroes, who 
seem to have a great prejudice and superstitious fear 
relating to vaccination, and its employment as a pre- 
ventive against contracting the disease. In the yel- 
low fever season the city suffers more or less, but the 
health of St. Pierre will average as good as that of 
our extreme Southern States ; and yet, after all, with 
the earthquakes, hurricanes, tarantulas, scorpions, and 
deadly fer-de-lance, as Artemus Ward would say, 
Martinique presents many characteristics to recom- 
mend protracted absence. A brief visit is like a poem 
to be remembered, but one soon gets a surfeit of the 
circumscribed island. 

Our next objective point was Barbadoes, to reach 
which we sailed one hundred and fifty miles to the east- 
ward, this most important of the Lesser Antilles being 
situated further to windward, that is, nearer the con- 
tinent of Europe. Our ponderous anchor came up at 
early morning, just as the sun rose out of the long, 
level reach of waters. It looked like a mammoth ball 
of fire, which had been immersed during the hours of 
the night countless fathoms below the sea. Presently 
everything was aglow with light and warmth, while 
the atmosphere seemed full of infinitesimal particles 
of glittering gold. At first one could watch the face 
of the rising sun, as it came peering above the sea, 
a sort of fascination impelling the observer to do so, 



50 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

but after a few moments, no human eye could bear 
its dazzling splendor. 

Said an honest old Marshfield farmer, in 1776, who 
met the clergyman of the village very early in the 
opening day: "Ah, good mornin', Parson, another 
fine day," nodding significantly towards the sun just 
appearing above the cloudless horizon of Massachu- 
setts Bay. "They do say the airth moves, and the 
sun stands still; but you and I, Parson, we git up 
airly and we see it rise! " 



CHAPTER III. 

English Island of Barbadoes. — Bridgetown the Capital. — The Manu- 
facture of Rum. — A Geographical Expert. — Very English. — A 
Pest of Ants. — Exports. — The Ice House. — A Dense Popula- 
tion. — Educational. — Marine Hotel. — Habits of Gambling. — 
Hurricanes. — Curious Antiquities. — The Barbadoes Leg. — Wake- 
ful Dreams. — Absence of Twilight. — Departure from the Island. 

Bridgetown is the capital of Barbadoes, an Eng- 
lish island which, unlike St. Thomas, is a highly culti- 
vated sugar plantation from shore to shore. In natural 
beauty, however, it will not compare with Martinique. 
It is by no means picturesquely beautiful, like most 
of the West Indian islands, being quite devoid of 
their thick tropical verdure. Nature is here absolutely 
beaten out of the field by excessive cultivation. Thirty 
thousand acres of sugar-cane are cut annually, yield- 
ing, according to late statistics, about seventy thou- 
sand hogsheads of sugar. We are sorry to add that 
there are twenty -three rum distilleries on the island, 
which do pecuniarily a thriving business. "The poor- 
est molasses makes the best rum," said an experienced 
manager to us. He might well have added that it is 
also the poorest use to which it could be put. This 
spirit, like all produced in the West Indies, is called 
Jamaica rum, and though a certain amount of it is 
still shipped to the coast of Africa, the return cargoes 



52 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

no longer consist of kidnapped negroes. The article 
known as New England rum, still manufactured in 
the neighborhood of Boston, has always disputed the 
African market, so to speak, with the product of these 
islands. Rum is the bane of Africa, just as opium is 
of China, the former thrust upon the native races by 
Americans, the latter upon the Chinese by English 
merchants, backed by the British government. Events 
follow each other so swiftly in modern times as to 
become half forgotten by contemporary people, but 
there are those among us who remember when China 
as a nation tried to stop the importation of the deadly 
drug yielded by the poppy fields of India, whereupon 
England forced the article upon her at the point of 
the bayonet. 

Bridgetown is situated at the west end of the is- 
land on the open roadstead of Carlisle Bay, and has a 
population of over twenty-five thousand. Barbadoes 
lies about eighty miles to the windward of St. Vincent, 
its nearest neighbor, and is separated from Europe 
by four thousand miles of the Atlantic Ocean. It is 
comparatively removed from the chain formed by the 
Windward Isles, its situation being so isolated that it 
remained almost unnoticed until a century had passed 
after Columbus's first discovery in these waters. The 
area of the British possessions in the West Indies is 
about one seventh of the islands. It is often stated 
that Barbadoes is nearly as large as the Isle of Wight, 
but the fact is, it exceeds that island in superficial 
area, being a little over fifty-five miles in circumf er- 



BRIDGETOWN. 53 

ence. The reader will perhaps remember that it was 
here Addison laid the scene of his touching story of 
"Inkle and Yarico," published so many years ago in 
the "Spectator." 

Though it is not particularly well laid out, Bridge- 
town makes a very pleasing picture, as a whole, when 
seen from the harbor. Here and there a busy wind- 
mill is mixed with tall and verdant tropical trees, 
backed by far-reaching fields of yellow sugar-cane, 
together with low, sloping hills. The buildings are 
mostly of stone, or coral rock, and the town follows 
the graceful curve of the bay. The streets are macad- 
amized and lighted with gas, but are far too narrow 
for business purposes. The island is about twenty- 
one miles long and between fourteen and fifteen 
broad, the shores being nearly inclosed in a cordon of 
coral reefs, some of which extend for two or three 
miles seaward, demanding of navigators the greatest 
care on seeking a landing, though the course into the 
roads to a suitable anchorage is carefully buoyed. 

Barbadoes was originally settled by the Portuguese, 
who here found the branches of a certain forest tree 
covered with hair-like hanging moss, from whence its 
somewhat peculiar name, Barbadoes, or the "bearded 
place," is supposed to have been derived. Probably 
this was the Indian fig-tree, still found here, and 
which lives for many centuries, growing to enormous 
proportions. In India, Ceylon, and elsewhere in 
Asia, it is held sacred. The author has seen one of 
these trees at Kandy, in the island of Ceylon, under 



54 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

which sacred rites have taken place constantly for 
a thousand years or more, and whose widespread 
branches could shelter five hundred people from the 
heat of the sun. It stands close by the famous old 
Buddhist temple wherein is preserved the tooth of the 
prophet, and before which devout Indians prostrate 
themselves daily, coming from long distances to do so. 
Indeed, Kandy is the Mecca of Ceylon. 

A good share of even the reading public of England 
would be puzzled to tell an inquirer exactly where 
Barbadoes is situated, while most of those who have 
any idea about it have gained such knowledge as they 
possess from Captain Marryat's clever novel of "Pe- 
ter Simple," where the account is, to be sure, meagre 
enough. Still later, those who have read Anthony 
Trollope's "West Indies and the Spanish Main" 
have got from the flippant pages of that book some 
idea of the island, though it is a very disagreeable 
example of Trollope's pedantic style. 

"Barbadoes? Barbadoes? " said a society man to 
the writer of these pages, in all seriousness, just as 
he was about to sail from New York, "that 's on the 
coast of Africa, is it not? " 

"Oh, no," was the reply, "it is one of the islands 
of the Lesser Antilles." 

"Where are the Antilles, pray? " 

"You must surely know." 

"But I do not, nevertheless; haven't the remotest 
idea. Fact is, geography never was one of my strong 
points." 



"LITTLE ENGLAND." 55 

With which remark we silently agreed, and yet our 
friend is reckoned to be a fairly educated, cultured 
person, as these expressions are commonly used. 
Probably he represents the average geographical 
knowledge of one half the people to be met with in 
miscellaneous society. 

This is the first English possession where the sugar- 
cane was planted, and is one of the most ancient col- 
onies of Great Britain. It bears no resemblance to 
the other islands in these waters, that is, topographi- 
cally, nor, indeed, in the character of its population, 
being entirely English. The place might be a bit 
taken out of any shire town of the British home is- 
land, were it only a little more cleanly and less un- 
savory; still it is more English than West Indian. 
The manners and customs are all similar to those of 
the people of that nationality; the negroes, and their 
descendants of mixed blood, speak the same tongue as 
the denizens of St. Giles, London. The island has 
often been called "Little England." There is no 
reliable history of Barbadoes before the period when 
Great Britain took possession of it, some two hundred 
aud sixty years ago. Government House is a rather 
plain but pretentious dwelling, where the governor 
has his official and domestic residence. In its rear 
there is a garden, often spoken of by visitors, which 
is beautified by some of the choicest trees and shrubs 
of this latitude. It is really surprising how much a 
refined taste and skillful gardening can accomplish 
in so circumscribed a space. 



56 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

Barbadoes is somewhat remarkable as producing a 
variety of minerals ; among which are coal, manganese, 
iron, kaolin, and yellow ochre. There are also one or 
two localities on the island where a flow of petroleum 
is found, of which some use is made. It is called 
Barbadoes tar, and were the supply sufficient to war- 
rant the use of refining machinery, it would undoubt- 
edly produce a good burning fluid. There is a "burn- 
ing well," situated in what is known as the Scotland 
District, where the water emerging from the earth 
forms a pool, which is kept in a state of ebullition from 
the inflammable air or gas which passes through it. 
This gas, when lighted by a match, burns freely until 
extinguished by artificial means, not rising in large 
enough quantities to make a great flame, but still 
sufficient to create the effect of burning water, and 
forming quite a curiosity. 

There are no mountains on the island, but the land 
is undulating, and broken into hills and dales; one 
elevation, known as Mount Hillaby, reaches a thou- 
sand feet and more above the level of tide waters. 

One of the most serious pests ever known at Bar- 
badoes was the introduction of ants, by slave-ships 
from Africa. No expedient of human ingenuity served 
to rid the place of their destructive presence, and it 
was at one time seriously proposed to abandon the 
island on this account. After a certain period nature 
came to the rescue. She does all things royally, and 
the hurricane of 1780 completely annihilated the ver- 
min. Verily, it was appropriate to call Barbadoes in 



ISLAND EXPORTS. 57 

those days the Ant-illes ! It appears that there is no 
affliction quite unmixed with good, and that we must 
put a certain degree of faith in the law of compensa- 
tion, however great the seeming evil under which we 
suffer. To our limited power of comprehension, a 
destructive hurricane does seem an extreme resort by 
which to crush out an insect pest. The query might 
even arise, with some minds, whether the cure was 
not worse than the disorder. 

The exports from the island consist almost wholly 
of molasses, sugar, and rum, products of the cane, 
which grows all over the place, in every nook and 
corner, from hilltop to water's edge. The annual ex- 
port, as already intimated, is considerably over sixty 
thousand hogsheads. Sugar cannot, however, be called 
king of any one section, since half of the amount 
manufactured in the whole world is the product of 
the beet root, the growth of which is liberally subsi- 
dized by more than one European government, in or- 
der to foster local industry. Like St. Thomas, this 
island has been almost denuded of its forest growth, 
and is occasionally liable, as we have seen, to destruc- 
tive hurricanes. 

Bridgetown is a place of considerable progress, hav- 
ing several benevolent and educational institutions; 
it also possesses railway, telephone, and telegraphic 
service. Its export trade aggregates over seven mil- 
lion dollars per annum, to accommodate which amount 
of commerce causes a busy scene nearly all the time in 
the harbor. The steam railway referred to connects 



58 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

the capital with the Parish of St. Andrews, twenty- 
one miles away on the other side of the island, its 
terminus being at the thrifty little town of Bathsheba, 
a popular resort, which is noted for its fine beach and 
excellent sea bathing. 

The cathedral is consecrated to the established reli- 
gion of the Church of England, and is a picturesque, 
time-worn building, surrounded, after the style of 
rural England, by a quaint old graveyard, the mon- 
uments and slabs of which are gray and mossgrown, 
some of them bearing dates of the earlier portion of 
the sixteenth century. This spot forms a very lovely, 
peaceful picture, where the graves are shaded by tree- 
ferns and stately palms. Somehow one cannot but 
miss the tall, slim cypress, which to the European 
and American eye seems so especially appropriate to 
such a spot. There were clusters of low-growing 
mignonette, which gave out a faint perfume exactly 
suited to the solemn shades which prevailed, and 
here and there bits of ground enameled with blue- 
eyed violets. The walls of the inside of the church 
are covered with memorial tablets, and there is an 
organ of great power and sweetness of tone. 

The "Ice House," so called, at Bridgetown is a 
popular resort, which everybody visits who comes to 
Barbadoes. Here one can find files of all the latest 
American and European papers, an excellent cafe, 
with drinks and refreshments of every conceivable 
character, and can purchase almost any desired article 
from a toothpick to a set of parlor furniture. It is 



THE ICE HOUSE. 59 

a public library, an exchange, a "Bon Marche," and 
an artificial ice manufactory, all combined. Stran- 
gers naturally make it a place of rendezvous. It 
seemed to command rather more of the average citi- 
zen's attention than did legitimate business, and one 
is forced to admit that although the drinks which were 
so generously dispensed were cool and appetizing, they 
were also very potent. It was observed that some in- 
dividuals, who came into the hospitable doors rather 
sober and dejected in expression of features, were apt 
to go out just a little jolly. 

The Ice House is an institution of these islands, 
to be found at St. Thomas, Demerara, and Trinidad, 
as well as at Barbadoes. Havana has a similar re- 
treat, but calls it a cafe, situated on the Paseo, near 
the Tacon Theatre. 

The population of the island amounts to about one 
hundred and seventy -two thousand, — the census of 
1881 showed it to be a trifle less than this, — giving 
the remarkable density of one thousand and more per- 
sons to the square mile, thus forming an immense 
human bee-hive. It is the only one of the "West 
Indian islands from which a certain amount of emi- 
gration is necessary annually. The large negro popu- 
lation makes labor almost incredibly cheap, field-hands 
on the plantations being paid only one shilling per 
day ; and yet, so ardent is their love of home — and 
the island is home to them — that only a few can be 
induced to leave it in search of better wages. When 
it is remembered that the State of Massachusetts, 



60 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

which is considered to be one of the most thickly- 
populated sections of the United States, contains but 
two hundred and twenty persons to the square mile, 
the fact that this West Indian island supports over 
one thousand inhabitants in the same average space 
will be more fully appreciated. Notwithstanding this 
crowded state of the population, we were intelligently 
informed that while petty offenses are common, there 
is a marked absence of serious crimes. 

One sees few if any signs of poverty here. It is a 
land of sugar-cane, yams, and sweet potatoes, very 
prolific, and very easily tilled. Some of the most 
prosperous men on the island are colored planters, who 
own their large establishments, though born slaves, 
perhaps on the very ground they now own. They 
have by strict economy and industry saved money 
enough to make a fair beginning, and in the course of 
years have gradually acquired wealth. One planta- 
tion, owned by a colored man, born of slave parents, 
was pointed out to us, with the information that it 
was worth twenty thousand pounds sterling, and that 
its last year's crop yielded over three hundred hogs- 
heads of sugar, besides a considerable quantity of 
molasses. 

England maintains at heavy expense a military 
depot here, from which to draw under certain circum- 
stances. There is no local necessity for supporting 
such a force. Georgetown is a busy place. Being the 
most seaward of the West Indies, it has become the 
chief port of call for ships navigating these seas. The 



AN EQUABLE CLIMATE. 61 

Caribbees are divided by geographers into the Wind- 
ward and Leeward islands, in accordance with the di- 
rection in which they lie with regard to the prevailing 
winds. They are in very deep water, the neighboring 
sea having a mean depth of fifteen hundred fathoms. 
Being so far eastward, Barbadoes enjoys an exception- 
ally equable climate, and it is claimed for it that it 
has a lower thermometer than any other West Indian 
island. Its latitude is 13° 4' north, longitude 59° 37' 
west, within eight hundred miles of the equator. The 
prevailing wind blows from the northeast, over the 
broad, unobstructed Atlantic, rendering the evenings 
almost always delightfully cool, tempered by this 
grateful tonic breath of the ocean. 

Trafalgar Square, Bridgetown, contains a hand- 
some fountain, and a bronze statue of Nelson which, 
as a work of art, is simply atrocious. From this 
broad, open square the tramway cars start, and it 
also forms a general business centre. 

The home government supports, besides its other 
troops, a regiment of negroes uniformed as Zouaves and 
officered by white men. The police of Bridgetown 
are also colored men. Slavery was abolished here in 
1833. Everything is so thoroughly English, that only 
the temperature, together with the vegetation, tells 
the story of latitude and longitude. The soil has been 
so closely cultivated as to have become partially ex- 
hausted, and this is the only West Indian island, if 
we are correctly informed, where artificial enrichment 
is considered necessary to stimulate the native soil, or 



62 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

where it has ever been freely used. "I question," 
said an intelligent planter to us, "whether we should 
not be better off to-day, if we had not so overstimu- 
lated, in fact, burned out, our land with guano and 
phosphates." These are to the ground like intoxi- 
cants to human beings, — if over-indulged in they are 
fatal, and even the partial use is of questionable ad- 
vantage. The Chinese and Japanese apply only do- 
mestic refuse in their fields as a manure, and no people 
obtain such grand results as they do in agriculture. 
They know nothing of patent preparations employed 
for such purposes, and yet will render a spot of 
ground profitable which a European would look upon 
as absolutely not worth cultivating. 

In any direction from Bridgetown going inland, 
miles upon miles of plantations are seen bearing the 
bright green sugar-cane, turning to yellow as it ripens, 
and giving splendid promise for the harvest. Here 
and there are grouped a low cluster of cabins, which 
form the quarters of the negroes attached to the plan- 
tation, while close at hand the tall chimney of the 
sixgar mill looms over the surrounding foliage. A 
little one side, shaded by some palms, is the planter's 
neat and attractive residence, painted snow white, in 
contrast to the deep greenery surrounding it, and hav- 
ing a few flower beds in its front. 

The Marine Hotel, which is admirably situated on 
a rocky point at Hastings, three hundred feet above 
the beach, is about a league from the city, and forms 
a favorite resort for the townspeople. The house is 



GAMBLING PROPENSITIES. 63 

capable of accommodating three hundred guests at a 
time. Its spacious piazzas fronting the ocean are con- 
stantly fanned by the northeast trades from October 
to March. Some New York families regard the place 
as a choice winter resort, the thermometer rarely indi- 
cating over 80° Fahr. , or falling below 70°. This sub- 
urb of Hastings is the location of the army barracks, 
where a broad plain affords admirable space for drill 
and military manoeuvres. There is a monument at 
Hastings, raised to the memory of the victims of the 
hurricane of 1831, which seems to be rather unpleas- 
antly suggestive of future possibilities. Near at hand 
is a well-arranged mile racecourse, a spot very dear 
to the army officers, where during the racing season 
any amount of money is lost and won. There seems 
to be something in this tropical climate which incites 
to all sorts of gambling, and the habit among the 
people is so common as to be looked upon with great 
leniency. Just so, at some of the summer resorts of 
the south of France, Italy, . and Germany, ladies or 
gentlemen will frankly say, "I am going to the Ca- 
sino for a little gambling, but will be back again by 
and by." 

The roads in the vicinity of Bridgetown are admira- 
bly kept, all being macadamized, but the dust which 
rises from the pulverized coral rock is nearly blinding, 
and together with the reflection caused by the sun on 
the snow white roads proves very trying to the eye- 
sight. The dust and glare are serious drawbacks to 
the enjoyment of these environs. 



64 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

As we have said, hurricanes have proved very fatal 
at Barbadoes. In 1780, four thousand persons were 
swept out of existence in a few hours by the irresisti- 
ble fury of a tornado. So late as 1831, the loss of life 
by a similar visitation was over two thousand, while 
the loss of property aggregated some two million 
pounds sterling. The experience has not, however, 
been so severe here as at several of the other islands. 
At the time of the hurricane just referred to, Bar- 
badoes was covered with a coat of sulphurous ashes 
nearly an inch thick, which was afterwards found to 
have come from the island of St. Vincent, where 
what is called Brimstone Mountain burst forth in 
flames and laid that island also in ashes. It is in- 
teresting to note that there should have been such 
intimate relationship shown between a great atmos- 
pheric disturbance like a hurricane and an under- 
ground agitation as evinced by the eruption of a vol- 
cano. 

It should be mentioned that these hurricanes have 
never been known to pass a certain limit north or 
south, their ravages having always been confined be- 
tween the eleventh and twenty -first degrees of north 
latitude. 

It appears that some curious Carib implements were 
found not long since just below the surface of the 
earth on the south shore of the bay, which are to be 
forwarded to the British Museum, London. These 
were of hard stone, and were thought by the find- 
ers to have been used by the aborigines to fell trees. 



EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES. 65 

Some were thick shells, doubtless employed by the 
Indians in the rude cultivation of maize, grown here 
four or five hundred years ago. It was said that 
these stone implements resembled those which have 
been found from time to time in Norway and Sweden. 
If this is correct, it is an important fact for antiqua- 
rians to base a theory upon. Some scientists believe 
that there was, in prehistoric times, an intimate rela- 
tionship between Scandinavia and the continent of 
America. 

Though there are several public schools in Bridge- 
town, both primary and advanced, we were somehow 
impressed with the idea that education for the com- 
mon people was not fostered in a manner worthy of a 
British colony of so long standing ; but this is the im- 
pression of a casual observer only. There is a college 
situated ten or twelve miles from the city, founded by 
Sir Christopher Codrington, which has achieved a high 
reputation as an educational institution in its chosen 
field of operation. It is a large structure of white 
stone, well arranged, and is, as we were told, consis- 
tent with the spirit of the times. It has the dignity 
of ripened experience, having been opened in 1744. 
The professors are from Europe. A delicious fresh 
water spring rises to the surface of the land just below 
the cliff, at Codrington College, a blessing which peo- 
ple who live in the tropics know how to appreciate. 
There is also at Bridgetown what is known as Harri- 
son's College, which, however, is simply a high school 
devoted exclusively to girls. 



66 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

The island is not exempt from occasional prevalence 
of tropical fevers, but may be considered a healthy 
resort upon the whole. Leprosy is not unknown 
among the lower classes, and elephantiasis is fre- 
quently to be met with. This disease is known in the 
West Indies as the "Barbadoes Leg." Sometimes a 
native may be seen on the streets with one of his legs 
swollen to the size of his body. There is no known 
cure for this disease except the surgeon's knife, and 
the removal of the victim from the region where it 
first developed itself. The author has seen terrible 
cases of elephantiasis among the natives of the Sa- 
moan group of islands, where this strange and unac- 1 
countable disease is thought to have reached its most 
extreme and repulsive development. Foreigners are 
seldom if ever afflicted with it, either in the West 
Indies or the South Pacific. 

We are to sail to-night. A few passengers and a 
quantity of freight have been landed, while some heavy 
merchandise has been received on board, designed for 
continental ports to the southward. The afternoon 
shadows lengthen upon the shore, and the sunset hour, 
so brief in this latitude, approaches. The traveler 
who has learned to love the lingering twilight of the 
north misses these most charming hours when in equa- 
torial regions, but as the goddess of night wraps her 
sombre mantle about her, it is so superbly decked with 
diamond stars that the departed daylight is hardly 
regretted. It is like the prompter's ringing up of the 
curtain upon a complete theatrical scene ; the glory of 



INFLUENCE OF THE TROPICS. 67 

the tropical sky bursts at once upon the vision in all 
its completeness, its burning' constellations, its soli- 
taire brilliants, its depth of azure, and its mysterious 
Milky Way. 

While sitting under the awning upon deck, watch- 
ing the gentle swaying palms and tall fern-trees, lis- 
tening to the low drone of busy life in the town, and 
breathing the sweet exhalations of tropical fruits and 
flowers, a trance-like sensation suffuses the brain. Is 
this the dolce far niente of the Italians, the sweet 
do-nothing of the tropics? To us, however defined, 
it was a waking dream of sensuous delight, of entire 
content. How far away sounds the noise of the 
steam-winch, the sharp chafing of the iron pulleys, 
the prompt orders of the officer of the deck, the swing- 
ing of the ponderous yards, the rattling of the anchor 
chain as it comes in through the hawse hole, while the 
ship gradually loses her hold upon the land. With 
half closed eyes we scarcely heard these many signifi- 
cant sounds, but floated peacefully on in an Eden of 
fancy, quietly leaving Carlisle Bay far behind. 

Our course was to the southward, while everything, 
high and low, was bathed in a flood of shimmering 
moonlight, the magic alchemy of the sky, whose in- 
fluence etherealizes all upon which it rests. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Curious Ocean Experiences. — The Delicate Nautilus. — Flying-Fish. 

— The Southern Cross. — Speaking a Ship at Sea. — Scientific 
Navigation. — South America as a Whole. — Fauna and Flora. 

— Natural Resources of a Wonderful Land. — Rivers, Plains, 
and Mountain Ranges. — Aboriginal Tribes. — Population. — Po- 
litical Divisions. — Civil Wars. — Weakness of South American 
States. 

The sudden appearance of a school of flying-fish 
gliding swiftly through the air for six or eight rods 
just above the rippling waves, and then sinking from 
sight ; the sportive escort of half a hundred slate- 
colored porpoises, leaping high out of the water on 
either bow of the ship only to plunge back again, 
describing graceful curves ; the constant presence of 
that sullen tiger of the ocean, the voracious, man- 
eating shark, betrayed by its dorsal fin showing above 
the surface of the sea ; the sporting of mammoth 
whales, sending columns of water high in air from 
their blowholes, and lashing the waves playfully with 
their broad-spread tails, are events at sea too com- 
monplace to comment upon in detail, though they 
tend to while away the inevitable monotony of a long 
voyage. 

Speaking of flying-fish, there is more in the flying 
capacity of this little creature than is generally ad- 



DARING NAVIGATORS. 69 

mitted, else why has it wings on the forward part of 
its body, each measuring seven inches in length ? If 
designed only for fins, they are altogether out of pro- 
portion to the rest of its body. They are manifestly 
intended for just the use to which the creature puts 
them. One was brought to us by a seaman ; how it 
got on board we know not, but it measured eleven 
inches from the nose to the tip of the tail-fin, and was 
in shape and size very much like a small mackerel. 
After leaving Barbadoes, we got into what sailors call 
the flying-fish latitudes, where they appear constantly 
in their low, rapid flight, sometimes singly, but of tener 
in small schools of a score or more, creating flashes 
of silvery-blue lustre. The most careful observation 
could detect no vibration of the long, extended fins ; 
the tiny fish sailed, as it were, upon the wind, the 
flight of the giant albatross in miniature. 

One afternoon, when the sea was scarcely dimpled 
by the soft trade wind, we came suddenly upon myriads 
of that little fairy of the ocean, the gossamer nautilus, 
with its Greek galleon shape, and as frail, apparently, 
as a spider's web. What a gondola it would make 
for Queen Mab ! How delicate and transparent it 
is, while radiating prismatic colors ! A touch might 
dismember it, yet what a daring navigator, floating 
confidently upon the sea where the depth is a thou- 
sand fathoms, liable at any moment to be changed 
into raging billows by an angry storm ! How minute 
the vitality of this graceful atom, a creature whose 
existence is perhaps for only a single day ; yet how 



70 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

grand and limitless the system of life and creation of 
which it is so humble a representative ! Sailors call 
these frail marine creatures Portuguese men-of-war. 
Possessing some singular facility for doing so, if they 
are disturbed, they quickly furl their sails and sink 
below the surface of the buoyant waves into deep wa- 
ter, the home of the octopus, the squid, and the vora- 
cious shark. Did they, one is led to query, navigate 
these seas after this fashion before the Northmen came 
across the ocean, and before Columbus landed at San 
Salvador ? At night the glory of the southern hemi- 
sphere, as revealed in new constellations and brighter 
stars brought into view, was observed with keenest 
interest, — " Everlasting Night, with her star diadems, 
with her silence, and her verities." The phospho- 
rescence of the sea, with its scintillations of brilliant 
light, its ripples of liquid fire, the crest of each wave 
a flaming cascade, was a charming phenomenon one 
never tired of watching. If it be the combination of 
millions and billions of animalculse which thus illu- 
mines the waters, then these infinitesimal creatures are 
the fireflies of the ocean, as the cucuios, that fairy 
torch-bearer, is of the land. Gliding on the magic 
mirror of the South Atlantic, in which the combined 
glory of the sky was reflected with singular clearness, 
it seemed as though we were sailing over a starry world 
below. 

While observing the moon in its beautiful series 
of changes, lighting our way by its chaste effulgence 
night after night, it was difficult to realize that it 



THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 71 

shines entirely by the light which it borrows from the 
sun ; but it was easy to believe the simpler fact, that 
of all the countless hosts of the celestial bodies, she 
is our nearest neighbor. " An eighteen-foot telescope 
reveals to the human eye over forty million stars," 
said Captain Baker, as we stood together gazing at 
the luminous heavens. " And if we entertain the gen- 
erally accepted idea," he continued, " we must believe 
that each one of that enormous aggregate of stars is 
the centre of a solar system similar to our own." The 
known facts relating to the stars, like stellar distances, 
are almost incomprehensible. 

One cannot but realize that there is always a cer- 
tain amount of sentiment wasted on the constellation 
known as the Southern Cross by passengers bound 
to the lands and seas over which it hangs. Orion or 
the Pleiades, either of them, is infinitely superior in 
point of brilliancy, symmetry, and individuality. A 
lively imagination is necessary to endow this irregu- 
lar cluster of stars with any real resemblance to the 
Christian emblem for which it is named. It serves 
the navigator in the southern hemisphere, in part, the 
same purpose which the north star does in our portion 
of the globe, and there our own respect for it as a 
constellation ends. Much poetic talent has been ex- 
pended for ages to idealize the Southern Cross, which 
is, alas ! no cross at all. We have seen a person un- 
familiar with the locality of this constellation strive 
long and patiently, but in vain, to find it. It should 
be remembered that two prominent stars in Centaurus 



72 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

point directly to it. The one furthest from the so- 
called cross is held to be the fixed star nearest to the 
earth, but its distance from us is twenty thousand 
times farther than that of the sun. 

We have never yet met a person, looking upon this 
cluster of the heavens for the first time, who did not 
frankly express his disappointment. Anticipation and 
fruition are oftenest at antipodes. 

The graceful marine birds which follow the ship, 
day after day, darting hither and thither with arrowy 
swiftness, lured by the occasional refuse thrown from 
on board, would be seriously missed were they to leave 
us. Watching their aerial movements and untiring 
power of wing, while listening to their sharp com- 
plaining cries, is a source of constant amusement. 
Even rough weather and a raging sea, if not accom- 
panied by too serious a storm, is sometimes welcome, 
serving to awaken the ship from its dixll propriety, 
and to put officers, crew, and passengers upon their 
mettle. To speak a strange vessel at sea is always 
interesting. If it is a steamer, a long, black wake 
of smoke hanging among the clouds at the horizon 
betrays her proximity long before the hull is sighted. 
All eyes are on the watch until she comes clearly 
within the line of vision, gradually increasing in size 
and distinctness of outline, until presently the spars 
and rigging are minutely delineated. Then specula- 
tion is rife as to whence she comes and where she 
is going. By and by the two ships approach so near 
that signal flags can be read, and the captains talk 



THE WATCH OF THE SKY. 73 

with each other, exchanging names, whither bound, 
and so on. Then each commander dips his flag in 
compliment to the other, and the ships rapidly sepa- 
rate. ' All of this is commonplace enough, but serves 
to while away an hour, and insures a report of our 
progress and safety at the date of meeting, when the 
stranger reaches his port of destination. 

We have spoken of the pleasure experienced at sea 
in watching intelligently the various phases of the 
moon. The subject is a prolific one ; a whole chapter 
might be written upon it. 

It is perhaps hardly realized by the average lands- 
man, and indeed by few who constantly cross the 
ocean, with their thoughts and interests absorbed by 
the many attractive novelties of the ocean, how impor- 
tant a part this great luminary plays in the navigation 
of a ship. It is to the intelligent and observant 
mariner the never-failing watch of the sky, the stars 
performing the part of hands to designate the proper 
figure upon the dial. If there is occasion to doubt the 
correctness of his chronometer, the captain of the ship 
can verify its figures or correct them by this planet. 
Every minute that the chronometer is wrong, assum- 
ing that it be so, may put him fifteen miles out of 
his reckoning, which, under some circumstances, might 
prove to be a fatal error, even leading to the loss of 
his ship and all on board. To find his precise location 
upon the ocean, the navigator requires both Greenwich 
time and local meridian time, the latter obtained by 
the sun on shipboard, exactly at midday. To get 



74 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

Greenwich time by lunar observation, the captain, for 
example, finds that the moon is three degrees from the 
star Regulus. By referring to his nautical almanac 
he sees recorded there the Greenwich time at which 
the moon was three degrees from that particular star. 
He then compares his chronometer with these figures, 
and either confirms or corrects its indication. It is 
interesting to the traveler to observe and under- 
stand these important resources, which science has 
brought to bear in perfecting his safety on the ocean, 
promoting the interests of commerce, and in aid of 
correct navigation. The experienced captain of a ship 
now lays his course as surely by compass, after satis- 
fying himself by these various means of his exact 
position, aff though the point of his destination was 
straight before him all the while, and visible from the 
pilot house. 

How indescribable is the grandeur of these serene 
nights on the ocean, fanned by the somnolent trade 
winds ; a little lonely, perhaps, but so blessed with the 
hallowed benediction of the moonlight, so gorgeously 
decorated by the glittering images of the studded 
heavens, so sweet and pure and fragrant is the breath 
of the sleeping wind ! If one listens intently, there 
seems to come to the senses a whispering of the waves, 
as though the sea in confidence would tell its secrets 
to a willing ear. 

The ship heads almost due south after leaving Bar- 
badoes, when her destination is, as in our case, Para, 
twelve hundred miles away. On this course we en- 



THE SOUTHERN CONTINENT. 75 

counter the equatorial current, which runs northward 
at a rate of two niiles in an hour, and at some points 
reaches a much higher rate of speed. 

As eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, so eter- 
nal scrubbing is the price of cleanliness on shipboard. 
The deck hands are at it from five o'clock in the 
morning until sunset. Our good ship looks as if she 
had just come out of dock. Last night's gale, which 
in its angry turmoil tossed us about so recklessly, cov- 
ered her with a saline, sticky deposit ; but with the 
rising of the sun all this disappears as if by magic. 
The many brass mountings shine with dazzling lustre, 
and the white paint contrasts with the well-tarred 
cordage which forms the standing rigging. 

While the ship pursues her course through the far- 
reaching ocean, let us sketch in outline the general 
characteristics of South America, whither we are 
bound. 

It is a country containing twice the area, though 
not quite one half the amount of population, of the 
United States, a land which, though now presenting 
nearly all phases of civilization, was four centuries 
ago mostly inhabited by nomadic tribes of savages, 
who knew nothing of the horse, the ox, or the sheep, 
which to-day form so great and important a source of 
its wealth, and where wheat, its prevailing staple, was 
also unknown. It is a land overflowing with native 
riches, which possesses an unlimited capacity of pro- 
duction, and whose large and increasing population 
requires just such domestic supplies as we of the north 



76 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

can profitably furnish. The important treaty of reci- 
procity, so lately arranged between the giant province 
of Brazil — or rather we should say the Republic of 
Brazil — and our own country, is already developing 
new and increasing channels of trade for our shippers 
and producers of the great staples, as well as throwing 
open to us a new nation of consumers for our special 
articles of manufacture. Facts speak louder than 
words. On the voyage in which the author sailed in 
the Vigilancia, she took over twenty thousand bar- 
rels of flour to Brazil from the United States, and 
would have taken more had her capacity admitted. 
Every foot of space on board was engaged for the 
return voyage, twelve thousand bags of coffee being 
shipped from Rio Janeiro alone, besides nearly as 
large a consignment of coffee from Santos, in the same 
republic. The great mutual benefit which must accrue 
from this friendly compact with an enterprising foreign 
country can hardly be overestimated. These consid- 
erations lead to a community of interests, which will 
grow by every reasonable means of familiarizing the 
people of the two countries with each other. Hence 
the possible and practical value of such a work as the 
one in hand. 

By briefly consulting one of the many cheap and 
excellent maps of the western hemisphere, the patient 
reader will be enabled to follow the route taken by the 
author with increased interest and a clearer under- 
standing. 

It is surprising, in conversing with otherwise intel- 



EXTENT OF SOUTH AMERICA. 77 

ligent and well-informed people, to find how few there 
are, comparatively speaking, who have any fixed and 
clear idea relative to so large a portion of the habitable 
globe as South America. The average individual 
seems to know less of the gigantic river Amazon than 
he does of the mysterious Nile, and is less familiar 
with that grand, far-reaching water-way, the Plate, 
than he is with the sacred Ganges ; yet one can ride 
from Buenos Ayres in the Argentine Republic, across 
the wild pampas, to the base of the Andes in a Pullman 
palace car. There is no part of the globe concerning 
which so little is written, and no other portion which 
is not more sought by travelers ; in short, it is less 
known to the average North American than New 
Zealand or Australia. 

The vast peninsula which we call South America 
is connected with our own part of the continent by the 
Isthmus of Panama and the territory designated as 
Central America. Its configuration is triangular, and 
exhibits in many respects a strong similarity to the 
continents of Africa and Australia, if the latter gigan- 
tic island may be called a continent. It extends north 
and south nearly five thousand miles, or from latitude 
12° 30' north to Cape Horn in latitude 55° 59' south. 
Its greatest width from east to west is a little over 
three thousand miles, and its area, according to the 
best authorities, is nearly seven million square miles. 
Three fourths of this country lie in the torrid zone, 
though as a whole it has every variety of climate, 
from equatorial heat to the biting frosts of alpine 



78 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

peaks. Its widespread surface consists principally of 
three immense plains, watered respectively by the 
Amazon, Plate, and Orinoco rivers. This spacious 
country has a coast line of over sixteen thousand 
miles on the two great oceans, with comparatively few 
indentures, headlands, or bays, though at the extreme 
south it consists of a maze of countless small islands, 
capes, and promontories, of which Cape Horn forms 
the outermost point. 

The Cordillera of the Andes extends through the 
whole length of this giant peninsula, from the Strait of 
Magellan to the Isthmus of Panama, a distance of 
forty-five hundred miles, forming one of the most 
remarkable physical features of the globe, and pre- 
senting the highest mountains on its surface, except 
those of the snowy Himalayas which separate India 
from Thibet. The principal range of the Andes runs 
nearly parallel with the Pacific coast, at an average 
distance of about one hundred miles from it, and con- 
tains several active volcanoes. If we were to believe 
a late school geography, published in London, Coto- 
paxi, one famous peak of this Andean range, throws 
up flames three thousand feet above the brink of its 
crater, which is eighteen thousand feet above tide 
water ; but to be on the safe side, let us reduce these 
extraordinary figures at least one half, as regards the 
eruptive power of Cotopaxi. This mountain chain, 
near the border between Chili and Peru, divides into 
two branches, the principal one still called the Cor- 
dillera of the Andes, and the other, nearer to the ocean, 



A LAND OF PLAINS AND MOUNTAINS. 79 

the Cordillera de la Costa. Between these ranges, 
about three thousand feet above the sea, is a vast 
table-land with an area larger than that of France. 

It will be observed that we are dealing with a 
country which, like our own, is one of magnificent 
distances. It is difficult for the nations of the old 
world, where the population is hived together in such 
circumscribed space, to realize the geographical extent 
of the American continent. When informed that it 
required six days and nights, at express speed upon 
well equipped railroads, to cross the United States 
from ocean to ocean, a certain editor in London 
doubted the statement. Outside of Her Majesty's 
dominions, the average Englishman has only super- 
ficial ideas of geography. The frequent blunders of 
some British newspapers in these matters are simply 
ridiculous. 

It should be understood that South America is a 
land of plains as well as of lofty mountains, having 
the llanos of the Orinoco region, the selvas of the 
Amazon, and the pampas of the Argentine Republic. 
The llanos are composed of a region about as large 
as the New England States, so level that the motion of 
the rivers can hardly be discerned. The selvas are 
for the most part vast unbroken forests, in which giant 
trees, thick undergrowth, and entwining creepers com- 
bine to form a nearly impenetrable region. The pam- 
pas lie between the Andes and the Atlantic Ocean, 
stretching southward from northern Brazil to southern 
Patagonia, affording grass sufficient to feed innumer- 



80 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

able herds of wild cattle, but at the extreme south the 
country sinks into half overflowed marshes and lagoons, 
resembling the glades and savannahs of Florida. 

The largest river in the world, namely, the Amazon, 
rises in the Peruvian Andes, within sixty miles of the 
Pacific Ocean, and flows thousands of miles in a gen- 
eral east-northeast direction, finally emptying into the 
Atlantic Ocean. This unequaled river course is nav- 
igable for over two thousand miles from its mouth, 
which is situated on the equatorial line, where its out- 
flow is partially impeded by the island of Marajo, a 
nearly round formation, one hundred and fifty miles 
or thereabouts in diameter. This remarkable island 
divides the river's outlet into two passages, the largest 
of which is a hundred and fifty miles in width, form- 
ing an estuary of extraordinary dimensions. The 
Amazon has twelve tributaries, each one of which is 
a thousand miles in length, not to count its hundreds 
of smaller ones, while the main stream affords water 
communication from the Atlantic Ocean to near the 
foothills of the Andes. 

We are simply stating a series of condensed geo- 
graphical facts, from which the intelligent reader can 
form his own deductions as regards the undeveloped 
possibilities of this great southland. 

Our own mammoth river, the Mississippi, is a com- 
paratively shallow stream, with a shifting channel 
and dangerous sandbanks, which impede navigation 
throughout the most of its course ; while the Amazon 
shows an average depth of over one hundred feet for 



GREAT RIVERS. 81 

the first thousand miles of its flow from the Atlantic, 
forming inland seas in many places, so spacious that 
the opposite banks are not within sight of each other. 
It is computed by good authority that this river, with 
its numerous affluents, forms a system of navigable 
water twenty-four thousand miles in length! There 
are comparatively few towns or settlements of any 
importance on the banks of the Amazon, which flows 
mostly through a dense, unpeopled evergreen forest, 
not absolutely without human beings, but . for very 
long distances nearly so. "Wild animals, anacondas 
and other reptiles, together with many varieties of 
birds and numerous tribes of monkeys, make up the 
animal lif e. Now and again a settlement of European 
colonists is found, or a rude Indian village is seen 
near the banks, but they are few and far between. 
There are occasional regions of low, marshy ground, 
which are malarious at certain seasons, but the average 
country is salubrious, and capable of supporting a pop- 
ulation of millions. 

This is only one of the large rivers of South Amer- 
ica ; there are many others of grand proportions. The 
Plate comes next to it in magnitude, having a length 
of two thousand miles, and being navigable for one half 
the distance from its mouth at all seasons. It is over 
sixty miles wide at Montevideo, and is therefore the 
widest known river. Like the great stream already 
described, it traverses a country remarkable for the 
fertility of its soil, but very thinly settled. The Plate 
carries to the ocean four fifths as much, in volume of 



82 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

water, as does the mighty Amazon, the watershed 
drained by it exceeding a million and a half square 
miles. One can only conceive of the true magnitude 
of such figures when applied to the land by compar- 
ing the number of square miles contained in any one 
European nation, or any dozen of our own States. 

Juan Diaz de Solis discovered the estuary of the 
Plate in 1508, and believed it at that time to' be a 
gulf, but on a second voyage from Europe, in 1516, 
he ascended the river a considerable distance, and 
called it Mar Dulce, on account of the character of 
the waters. Unfortunately, this intelligent discoverer 
was killed by Indian arrows on attempting to land at 
a certain point. For a considerable period the river 
was called after him, and we think should have con- 
tinued to be so, but its name was changed to the Plate 
on account of the conspicuous silver ornaments worn 
in great profusion by the natives, which they freely 
exchanged for European gewgaws. 

Though nearly four hundred years have passed since 
its discovery, a large portion of the country still re- 
mains comparatively unexplored, much of it being a 
wilderness sparsely inhabited by Indians, many of 
whom are without a vestige of civilization. We know 
as little of portions of the continent as we do of 
Central Africa, yet there is no section of the globe 
which suggests a greater degree of physical interest, 
or which would respond more readily and profitably 
to intelligent effort at development. When the Span- 
iards first came to South America, it was only in Peru, 



WEALTH OF THE INCAS. 83 

the land of the Incas, that they found natives who had 
made any substantial progress in civilization. The 
earliest history extant relating to this region of the 
globe is that of the Incas, a warlike race of sun-wor- 
shipers, who possessed enormous treasures of gold and 
silver, and who erected magnificent temples enriched 
with the precious metals. It was the almost fabu- 
lous wealth of the Incas that led to their destruction, 
tempting the cupidity of the avaricious Spaniards, and 
causing them to institute a system of cruelty, oppres- 
sion, robbery, and bloodshed which finally obliterated 
an entire people from the face of the globe. The 
empire of the Incas extended from Quito, in Ecua- 
dor (on the equator), to the river Monte in Chili, 
and eastward to the Andes. The romantic career of 
Pizarro and Cortez is familiar to us all. There are 
few palliating circumstances connected with the ad- 
vent of the Spaniards, either here, in the West In- 
dies, or in Mexico. The actual motive which prompted 
their invasion of this foreign soil was to search for 
mineral treasures, though policy led them to cover 
their bloodthirsty deeds with a pretense of religious 
zeal. Their first acts were reckless, cruel, and sangui- 
nary, followed by a systematic oppression of the na- 
tive races which was an outrage upon humanity. The 
world at large profited little by the extortion and 
golden harvest reaped by Spain, to realize which she 
adopted a policy of extermination, both in Peru and 
in Mexico ; but let it be remembered that her own 
national ruin was brought about with poetical justice 



84 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

by the very excess of her ill-gotten, blood-stained trea- 
sures. The Spanish historians tell us, as an evidence 
of the persistent bravery of their ancestors, that it 
took them eight hundred years of constant warfare to 
wrest Spain from her Moorish conquerors. It is for 
us to remind them how brief has been the continuance 
of their glory, how rapid their decline from splendid 
continental and colonial possessions to their present 
condition, that of the weakest and most insignificant 
power in Europe. 

There are localities which have been visited by 
adventurous explorers, especially in Chili and Peru, 
where ruins have been found, and various monuments 
of antiquity examined, of vast interest to archaeolo- 
gists, but of which scarcely more than their mere ex- 
istence is recorded. Some of these ruins are believed 
to antedate by centuries the period of the Incas, and 
are supposed to be the remains of tribes which, judg- 
ing from their pottery and other domestic utensils, 
were possibly of Asiatic origin. Comparatively few 
travelers have visited Lake Titicaca, in the Peruvian 
Andes, with its sacred islands and mysterious ruins, 
from whence the Incas dated their mythical origin. 
The substantial remains of some grand temples are 
still to be seen on the islands near the borders of the 
lake, the decaying masonry decked here and there 
with a wild growth of hardy cactus. This remarkable 
body of water, Lake Titicaca, in the mountain range 
of Peru, lies more than twelve thousand feet above 
the level of the Pacific ; yet it never freezes, and its 



EXTENSIVE FORESTS. 85 

average depth is given as six hundred feet, repre- 
senting an immense body of water. It covers an area 
of four thousand square miles, which is about four 
fifths as large as our own Lake Ontario, the average 
depth being about the same. Titicaca is the largest 
lake in the world occupying so elevated a site. 

The population of South America is mostly to be 
found on the coast, and is thought to be about thirty- 
five millions, though, all things considered, we are dis- 
posed to believe this an overestimate. There are 
tribes far inland who are not brought in contact with 
civilization at all, and whose numbers are not known. 
The magnitude and density of the forests are remark- 
able ; they cover, it is intelligently stated, nearly two 
thirds of the country. The vegetation, in its various 
forms, is rich beyond comparison. Professor Agassiz, 
who explored the valley of the Amazon under the most 
favorable auspices, tells us that he found within an 
area of half a mile square over one hundred species of 
trees, among which were nearly all of the choicest 
cabinet and dye woods known to the tropics, besides 
others suitable for shipbuilding. Some of these trees 
are remarkable for their gigantic size, others for their 
beauty of form, and still others are valuable for their 
gums and resins. Of the latter, the india-rubber tree 
is the most prolific and important known to commerce. 
From Brazil comes four fifths of the world's supply 
of the raw material of rubber. 

The great fertility of the soil generally would seem 
to militate against the true progress of the people of 



86 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

South America, absolutely discouraging, rather than 
stimulating national industry. One cannot but con- 
trast the state of affairs in this respect with that of 
North America, where the soil is so much less produc- 
tive, and where the climate is so universally rigorous. 
The deduction is inevitable that, to find man at his 
best, we must observe him where his skill, energy, and 
perseverance are all required to achieve a livelihood, 
and not where exuberant nature is over-indulgent, 
over-productive. The coast, the valleys, and indeed 
the main portion of South America are tropical, but a 
considerable section of the country is so elevated that 
its climate is that of perpetual spring, resembling the 
great Mexican plateau, both physically and as regards 
temperature. The population is largely of Spanish de- 
scent, and that language is almost universally spoken, 
though Portuguese is the current tongue in Brazil. 
These languages are so similar, in fact, that the people 
of the two nations can easily understand each other. 
It is sai£ to be true that, in the wild regions of the 
country, there are tribes of Indians found to-day living 
close to each other, separated by no physical barriers, 
who differ materially in language, physiognomy, man- 
ners, and customs, having absolutely nothing in com- 
mon but their brown or copper-colored skins. Fur- 
thermore, these tribes live most frequently in deadly 
feuds with each other. That cannibalism is still 
practiced among these interior tribes is positively be- 
lieved, especially among some of the tribes of the 
extreme south, that is, among the Patagonians and the 



AMALGAMATION OF RACES. 87 

wild, nomadic race of Terra del Fuego. These two 
tribes, on opposite sides of the Strait of Magellan, 
are quite different from each other in nearly every re- 
spect, especially in size, nor will they attempt to hold 
friendly intercourse of any sort with each other. 

There are certain domestic animals which are be- 
lieved to be improved by crossing them with others 
of a different type, but this does not seem to apply, 
very often, advantageously to different races of human 
beings. It is plain enough in South America that the 
amalgamation of foreigners and natives rapidly effaces 
the original better qualities of each, the result being a 
mongrel, nondescript type, hard to analyze and hard 
to improve. That keen observer, Professor Agassiz, 
especially noticed this during his year of scientific 
research in Brazil. This has also been the author's 
experience, as illustrated in many lands, where strictly 
different races, the one highly civilized, the other bar- 
barian, have unitedly produced children. It is a sort 
of amalgamation which nature does not favor, record- 
ing her objections in an unmistakable manner. It is 
the flow of European emigration towards these south- 
ern republics which will infuse new life and progress 
among them. The aboriginal race is slowly receding, 
and fading out, as was the case in Australia, in New 
Zealand, and in the instance of our western Indians. 
A new people will eventually possess the land, com- 
posed of the several European nationalities, who are 
already the virtual masters of South America so far 
as regards numbers, intelligence, and possession. 



88 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

Since these notes were written, the Argentine gov- 
ernment has sold to Baron Hirsch three thousand 
square leagues of land in the province of Chaco, for 
the formation of a Jewish colony. Agents are already 
at work, aided by competent engineers and practical 
individuals, in preparing for the early reception of 
the new occupants of the country. The first contin- 
gent, of about one thousand Jews, have already 
arrived and are becoming domesticated. Argentina 
wants men perhaps more than money ; indeed, one will 
make the other. A part of Baron Hirsch's scheme is 
to lend these people money, to be repaid in small in- 
stallments extending over a considerable period. For 
this extensive territory the Baron paid one million 
three hundred thousand dollars in gold, thus making 
himself the owner of the largest connected area of 
land in the world possessed by a single individual. It 
exceeds that of the kingdom of Montenegro. 

As to the zoology of this part of the continent, it 
is different from that of Europe, Africa, Asia, and 
North America. The number of dangerous beasts of 
prey is quite limited. There is nothing here to answer 
to the African lion, the Asiatic tiger, the elephant of 
Ceylon, or the grisly bear of Alaska. The jaguar is 
perhaps the most formidable animal, and resembles 
the leopard. There are also the cougar, tiger-cat, black 
bear, hyena, wolf, and ocelot. The llama, alpaca, and 
vicuna are peculiar to this country. The monkey tribe 
exceeds all others in variety and number. There 
are said to be nearly two hundred species of them 



ABORIGINALS. 89 

in South America, each distinctly marked, and vary- 
ing from each other, in size, from twelve pounds to 
less than two. The smallest of the little marmosets 
weigh less than a pound and a half each, and are the 
most intelligent animal of their size known to man. 
There are also the deer, tapir, armadillo, anteater, and 
a few other minor animals. The pampas swarm with 
wild cattle and horses, descended from animals ori- 
ginally brought from Europe. In the low, marshy 
grounds the boa-constrictor and other reptiles abound. 
Eagles, vultures, and parrots are found in a wild state 
all over the country, while the rivers and the waters 
near the coast are well filled with fish, crocodiles, and 
turtles. Scientists have found over two thousand spe- 
cies of fish in the Amazon River alone. 

The pure aboriginal race are copper colored, resem- 
bling the Mexicans in character and appearance. Like 
most natives of equatorial regions, they are indolent, 
ignorant, superstitious, sensuous, and by no means 
warlike. Forced into the ranks and drilled by Euro- 
peans, they make fairly good soldiers, and when well 
led will obey orders and fight. There can be no esprit 
de corps in soldiers thus organized ; the men neither 
know nor care what they fight for, their incentive in 
action being first a natural instinct for brutality, and 
second the promise of booty. In some parts of the 
country the half-breeds show themselves skillful work- 
men in certain simple lines of manufacture, but the 
native pure and simple will not work except to keep 
from starving. 



90 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

The Spaniards conquered nearly all parts of South 
America except Brazil, which was subject to Portugal 
until 1823, when it achieved its independence. The 
Spanish colonies also revolted, one by one, until they 
all became independent of the mother country. The 
history of these republics, as in the instance of Mexico, 
has been both stormy and sanguinary. Foreign and 
civil wars have reigned among them incessantly for 
half a century and more. 

The present political divisions are : Brazil, British 
Guiana, Dutch Guiana, French Guiana, Ecuador, 
United States of Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Chili, 
Peru, Argentine Republic, Uruguay, and Paraguay. 
Brazil is the most extensive of these states, and is 
thought to enjoy the largest share of natural ad- 
vantages, including in its area nearly one half as 
many square miles as all the rest combined. Its sea- 
board at Parahiba, and for hundreds of miles north 
and south of it, projects into the Atlantic a thousand 
miles to the east of the direct line between its north- 
ern and southern extremities. Besides her diamond 
and gold mines, she possesses what is much more de- 
sirable, namely, valuable deposits of iron, copper, sil- 
ver, and other metals. We have before us statistics 
which give the result of diamond mining in Brazil 
from 1740 to 1823, when national independence was 
won, which show the aggregate for that entire period 
to have been less than ten million dollars in value ; 
while that of the coffee alone, exported from Rio 
Janeiro in one year, exceeded twenty million dollars, 



CIVIL WARS. 91 

showing that, however dazzling the precious stones 
may appear in the abstract, they are not even of 
secondary consideration when compared with the agri- 
cultural products of the country. The export of cof- 
fee has increased very much since the year 1851, which 
happens to be that from which we have quoted. It 
must also be admitted that probably twice the amount 
of diamonds recorded were actually found and en- 
riched somebody, all which were duly reported, having 
to pay a government royalty according to the pecu- 
niary exigency of those in authority. 

The population of Brazil is between fourteen and 
fifteen million, and it is thought to be more advanced 
in civilization than other parts of South America, 
though in the light of our own experience we should 
place the Argentine Republic first in this respect. 
Indeed, so far as a transient observer may speak, 
we are inclined to place Argentina far and away in 
advance of Brazil as regards everything calculated 
to invite the would-be emigrant who is in search of a 
new home in a foreign land. Were it not that intes- 
tine wars are of such frequent occurrence among these 
states, and national bankruptcy so common, voluntary 
emigration would tend towards South America in far 
larger numbers than it does now. The revolutions 
are solely to promote personal aggrandizement ; it is 
individual interest, not principle, for which these 
people fight so often. Unfortunately, every fresh out- 
break throws the country back a full decade as regards 
national progress. The late civil wars in Chili and 



92 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

the Argentine Republic are illustrations in point. The 
first-named section of South America has suddenly- 
sunk from a condition of remarkable pecuniary pros- 
perity to one of actual poverty. Thousands of valu- 
able lives have been sacrificed, an immense amount of 
property has been destroyed, her commerce crippled, 
and for the time being paralyzed. Ten years of peace 
and reasonable prosperity could hardly restore Chili 
to the position she was in twelve months ago. The 
country is to-day in a terrible condition, while many 
of the best families mourn the death of a father, a son, 
or both, whose lives have been sacrificed to the mad 
ambition of a usurper. Numerous families, once rich, 
have now become impoverished by the confiscation of 
their entire property. The Chilians do not carry on 
warfare in European style, by organized armies ; there 
is a semblance only of such bodies. The fighting is 
mostly after the fashion of free lances, guerrilla bands, 
and highwaymen. There seems to be no sense of 
honor or chivalry among the common people, while the 
only idea of the soldiery is to plunder and destroy. 

The Peruvians whose cities were despoiled by Chili 
must have regarded the recent cutting of each other's 
throats by the Chilian soldiery with something like 
grim satisfaction. 

The obvious weakness of the South American states 
lies in their bitter rivalry towards each other, a condi- 
tion which might be at once obviated by their joining 
together to form one united nation. The instability 
which characterizes their several governments in their 



A POSSIBLE UNION. 93 

present isolated interests has passed into a byword. 
Divided into nine unimportant states, — leaving out 
the three Guianas, which are dependent upon Euro- 
pean powers, — any one of them could be erased from 
the map and absorbed by its stronger neighbor, or by 
a covetous foreign power. On the contrary, by form- 
ing one grand republic, it would stand eighth in the 
rank of nations as regards wealth, importance, and 
power, amply able to take care of itself, and to main- 
tain the integrity of its territory. A community of 
interest would also be established between our govern- 
ment and that of these South American provinces, 
which would be of immense commercial and political 
importance to both nations. 

To those who have visited the country, and who 
have carefully observed the conditions, it is clear that 
this division of the continent will never thrive and 
fully reap the benefit of its great natural advantages 
until the independent republics assume the position of 
sovereign states, subservient to a central power, a pur- 
pose which has already been so successfully accom- 
plished in Mexico. 

While we have been considering the great southern 
continent as a whole, our good ship, having crossed 
the equator, has been rapidly approaching its northern 
shore. After entering the broad mouth of the Amazon 
and ascending its course for many miles, we are now 
in sight of the thriving metropolis of Para. 



CHAPTER V. 

City of Paid. — The Equatorial Line. — Spanish History. — The 
King of Waters. — Private Gardens — Domestic Life in Northern 
Brazil. — Delicious Pineapples. — Family Pets. — Opera House. — 
Mendicants. — A Grand Avenue. — Botanical Garden. — India- Rub- 
ber Tree. — Gathering the Ra-\v* Material. — Monkeys. — The Royal 
Palm. — Splendor of Equatorial Nights. 

Para is the most northerly city of Brazil. It also 
bears the name of Belem on some maps, and is the 
capital of a province of the first designation. The 
full official title of the place is, in the usual style of 
Portuguese and Spanish hyperbole, Santa Maria do 
Belem do Grao Para, which has fortunately and nat- 
urally simplified itself to Para. It was founded in 
1615, and the province of which it is the capital was 
the last in Brazil to declare its independence of the 
mother country, and to acknowledge the authority of 
the first emperor, Dom Pedro. It is the largest polit- 
ical division of the republic, and in some respects the 
most thriving. The city is situated about ninety 
miles south of the equator, and eighty miles from the 
Atlantic Ocean on the Para River, so called, but 
which is really one of the mouths of the Amazon. It 
is thus the principal city at the mouth of the largest 
river in the world, a fact quite sufficient to indicate 
its present, and to insure its continued commercial 
importance. 



THE PARA ESTUARY. 95 

As we entered the muddy estuary of the river, 
whose wide expanse was lashed into short, angry waves 
by a strong wind, large tree trunks were seen floating 
seaward, rising and sinking on the undulating surface 
of the water. Some were quite entire, with all of 
their branches still attached to the main trunk. They 
came, perhaps, from two thousand miles inland, borne 
upon the swift current from where it had undermined 
the roots, in their forest home. Among the rest was 
a cocoa-palm with its full tufted head, some large 
brown nuts still hanging tenaciously to the parent 
stem. It had fallen bodily, while in its prime and 
full bearing, suddenly unearthed by some swift devia- 
tion of the river, which brooks no trifling impediment 
to its triumphal march seaward. How long, one 
would be glad to know, has this vast stream, fed by 
the melted snow of the Andes, poured its accumulated 
waters into the bosom of the ocean? A thousand 
years is but as a day, in reckoning the age of a moun- 
tain range or of a mammoth river. 

As we approached the city, the channel became 
gradually narrowed by several prominent islands, 
crowded with rich green vegetation, forest trees of 
various sorts, mangoes, bananas, and regal palms. 
Though it is thus broken by islands, the river is here 
over twenty miles in width. 

Para is yielded precedence over the other cities on 
the east coast of South America in many respects, and 
is appreciatively called "Queen of the Amazon," her 
water communication reaching into the very heart of 



96 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

some of the most fertile valleys on the continent. One 
incorporated company has established a score of well- 
appointed steamers, averaging five hundred tons each, 
which navigate the river for a distance of two thou- 
sand miles from its mouth. Para has an excellent 
harbor, of large capacity, accommodating an exten- 
sive commerce, a considerable portion of which is with 
the United States of North America. It has a mixed 
population of about fifty thousand, composed of an 
amalgamation of Portuguese, Italians, Indians, and 
negroes, and is the only town of any importance, except 
Quito, situated so near to the equatorial line, where 
the interested observer has the privilege of beholding 
the starry constellations of both hemispheres. Ships 
of five thousand tons measurement can lie within a 
hundred yards of the wharves of Para, where the ac- 
cumulation of coffee, dyewoods, drugs, tobacco, cotton, 
cocoa, rice, sugar, and raw india-rubber, indicates the 
character of the principal exports. Of all these sta- 
ples, the last named is the most important, in a com- 
mercial point of view, occupying the third place on 
the list of national exports. As we have shown, the 
import and export trade of the Amazon valley natu- 
rally centres here, and Para need fear no commercial 
rival. 

For a considerable period this unequaled water- 
way, forming the spacious port, and conveying the 
drainage of nearly half of South America into the 
Atlantic, bore the name of its discoverer, Orellana, 
one of Pizarro's captains; but the fabulous story of a 



FRIAR GASPAR'S STORY. 97 

priest called Friar Gaspar, self -constituted chronicler 
of the expedition, gave to it the designation which 
it now bears. All the Spanish records of the his- 
tory and conquests in the New World, relating to 
the doings of Columbus, Cortez, Pizarro, and others, 
without an exception, were written in the same spirit 
of exaggeration and untruthfulness, leading that pious 
witness and contemporary writer, Las Casas, to pro- 
nounce them, with honest indignation, to be a tissue 
of falsehoods. Even our own popular historian, 
Prescott, who drew so largely upon these sources for 
his poetical productions, was forced to admit their 
manifest incongruities, contradictions, and general 
irresponsibility. This Munchausen of a priest, Friar 
Gaspar, recorded that a tribe of Amazons, or fight- 
ing women, was encountered far inland, on the banks 
of the mighty river, who were tall in stature, sym- 
metrical in form, and had a profusion of long hair, 
which hung in braids down their backs. They were 
represented to be as warlike as they were beautiful, 
and as carrying shields and spears, the latter of which 
they could use with great skill and effect. It was 
this foolish story of the Amazons, hatched in the pro- 
lific brain of Friar Gaspar, which gave the river its 
lasting name. 

The Indian designation of the mammoth water- 
course was significant and appropriate, as their names 
always are. They called it Parana-ting a, meaning 
"King of Waters," and it seems to us a great pity 
that the name could not have been retained. 



98 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

Para has the advantage of being much nearer to 
the United States and to Europe than Rio Janeiro, 
the capital of Brazil. Though the commerce of Rio 
is constantly increasing, in spite of its miserable sani- 
tary condition, it is confidently believed by intelligent 
persons engaged in the South American trade, that 
Parii will equal it erelong in the aggregate of its ship- 
ments. All freight is now landed by means of light- 
ers, a process which is an awkward drawback upon 
commerce, and what makes it still more aggravating 
is that it seems to be an entirely needless one. Cer- 
tainly a good, substantial, capacious pier might be 
easily built, which would obviate this objection, ac- 
commodating a dozen large vessels at the same time. 
The Brazilians are slow to adopt any modern improve- 
ment. Portuguese and Spaniards are very much alike 
in this respect. Wharves will be built at Para by 
and by, after a few more millions have been wasted 
upon the inconvenient process now in vogue, which 
involves not only needless expense, but causes most 
awkward and unreasonable delay, both in landing 
merchandise and in shipping freight for export. This 
serious objection applies to all the ports along the east 
coast of South America. There is always some private 
interest which exerts itself to prevent any progressive 
movement, and it is this which retards improved facil- 
ities for unloading and shipping of cargoes at Para. 
In this instance the owners of the steam tugs which 
tow the flat-bottomed lighters from ship to shore, and 
vice versa, oppose the building of piers, because, if 



THE CITY OF PARA. 99 

they were in existence, these individuals would find 
their profitable occupation gone. If proper wharf 
facilities were to be furnished, commerce generally 
would be much benefited, though a few persons would 
suffer some pecuniary loss. As we have said, the 
wharves will come by and by, when the people realize 
that private interest must be subservient to the public 
good. 

The city of Para is situated upon slightly elevated 
ground, and makes a fine appearance from the river, 
with its lofty cathedral, numerous churches, convents, 
custom house, and arsenal standing forth in bold 
relief against an intensely blue sky, while fronting 
the harbor, like a line of sentinels, is a row of tall, 
majestic palms, harmonizing admirably with the local 
surroundings, though in the very midst of a busy 
commercial centre. The buildings are painted yel- 
low, blue, or pink, the facades contrasting strongly 
with the dark red of the heavily tiled roofs, which, 
having no chimneys, present an odd appearance to 
a northern eye. Here and there a mass of greenery 
indicates some domestic garden, or a plaza presided 
over by tall groups of trees, among which the thick, 
umbrageous mangoes prevail. The Rua da Impera- 
triz is the principal wholesale street of the city, 
where the large warehouses are to be found, but the 
Rua dos Mercadores is the fashionable shopping 
street, through which the tramway also passes. The 
shops are rather small, but have a fair stock of goods 
offered at reasonable rates, though strangers are apt 



100 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

to be victimized by considerably higher prices than a 
native would pay. 

This, however, is not unusual in all foreign coun- 
tries, so far as our experience goes. North Americans 
are looked upon as possessing unlimited pecuniary 
means, and as lavish in their expenditures, prices be- 
ing gauged accordingly. This is a universal practice 
in Europe, and especially so in Germany. 

The climate is very moist, and it has been face- 
tiously remarked that it rains here eight days in the 
week. One cannot speak approvingly of the sanitary 
condition of a place where turkey buzzards are de- 
pended upon to remove the garbage which accumulates 
in the thoroughfares. It is unaccountable that the 
citizens should submit to such filthy surroundings, es- 
pecially in a locality where malarial fever is acknow- 
ledged to prevail in the summer season. Though at 
this writing it is the latter part of May, yellow fever 
is still rife here, and we hear of many particularly sad 
cases, ending fatally, all about us. This destroyer is 
especially apt to carry off people who have newly ar- 
rived in the country. The present year has been 
unusually fatal among the residents of Para, as re- 
gards yellow fever, which seems to linger longer and 
longer each year of its visitation. Our own conviction 
is that the people have themselves to thank for this 
lingering of the pest into the winter months, since 
the sanitary conditions of the place are inexcusably 
defective. 

Gardens in and about the city quickly catch and 



INSECT LIFE. 101 

delight the eye, — gardens where flowers and fruits 
grow in great luxuriance. Among the latter are 
oranges, mangoes, guavas, figs, and bananas. The 
glossy green fronds of the bananas throw other ver- 
dure altogether into the shade, while in dignity and 
beauty the cocoanut palms excel all other trees. The 
tall, straight stem of the palm rises from the roots 
without leaf or branch until the plumed head is 
reached, which bends slightly under its wealth of pin- 
nated leaves and fruit combined. If you happen to 
pass these gardens after nightfall, especially those in 
the immediate environs of the city, mark the phos- 
phorescent clouds of dancing lights which fill the still 
atmosphere round about the vegetation. This pecu- 
liar effect is produced by the busy cucuios, or tropi- 
cal fireflies, each vigorously flashing its individual 
torch. Do they shine thus in the daytime, we are 
led to wonder, like the constellations in the heavens, 
though hidden by the greater light of the sun ? They 
are always demonstrative in the night, be it never so 
cloudy, foggy, or damp in the low latitudes. They 
keep their sparkling revels, their torchlight dances, all 
heedless of the grim and deadly fever which lurks in 
the surrounding atmosphere, claiming human victims 
right and left, among high and low, from the ranks of 
age and of youth. Insect life is redundant here. It 
is the very paradise of butterflies, whose size, wide 
spread of wing, variety, and striking beauty of colors, 
we have only seen equaled at Penang and Singapore, 
in the Malacca Straits. Some of the avenues leading 



102 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

to the environs are lined with handsome trees, which 
add greatly to their attractiveness and comfort. The 
silk cotton tree and the almond are favorites here as 
ornamental shade trees. The cape jessamine is uni- 
versally cultivated at Para, and grows to a large size, 
filling the air with its agreeable fragrance. Here the 
oleander, covered with clusters of bloom, grows to the 
height of twenty feet and more. The lime, with its 
fine acid fruit, which is in great request in making 
cooling drinks, also abounds. 

The glimpses of domestic life which one gets in 
passing the better class of dwellings reveal rooms 
with tiled or polished wooden floors, cane -finished 
chairs, sofas, and rockers to match, a small foot rug 
here and there, a group of flowering plants in one 
corner, while hammocks seem to take the place of bed- 
steads. The temperature is high at Para in summer, 
and woolen carpets, or even mattresses, are too warm 
for use in this climate. Bignonias, oleanders, and other 
blooming plants abound in the flower-plots about the 
city, besides many flowering vines which are stran- 
gers to us, half orchids, half creepers. One is apt to 
jump at conclusions. These people dearly love flow- 
ers, so we conclude they cannot be very wicked. 

The families live, as it were, in the open patios, 
which form the centres of their dwellings, are shaded 
by broad verandas, and upon which the domestic apart- 
ments all open. The accessories are few, and not en- 
tirely convenient, according to a northerner's ideas of 
comfort ; but this is compensated for by the fragrance 



BAHIA ORANGES. 103 

of flowers, the picturesqueness of the surroundings, 
and the free and easy out-of-door atmosphere which 
ignores conventionalities. These attractive interiors 
suggest a sort of picnic mode of life which has con- 
formed itself to climatic influences. Everything is very 
quiet, there is no hurry, and the stillness is occasion- 
ally interrupted by the musical laughter of children, 
which rings out clear and pleasantly, entirely in har- 
mony with the surroundings. And such children! 
Artists' models, every one of them. It all seems to 
a stranger to be the very poetry of living, yet we ven- 
ture to say that each household has its skeleton in the 
closet, and some a' whole anatomical museum! 

At Bahia, further south, a revelation awaits the 
traveler in the delicious richness, size, and delicacy of 
the oranges which grow there in lavish abundance, 
and which are famous all along the coast. Here at 
Para, the same may be said of the pineapple, the 
raising of which is a local specialty. • These are not 
picked until fully ripe, and often weigh ten pounds 
each. When cut open, the inside can be eaten with 
a spoon, if one fancies that mode. They require no 
sugar ; nature has supplied the saccharine principle in 
abundance. They are absolutely perfect in themselves 
alone. People sailing northward lay in a great store 
of this admirable fruit, which is as cheap as it is de- 
licious and appetizing. In New England, the pines 
of which we partake have been picked in a green con- 
dition in Bermuda, the Bahamas, or Florida, to en- 
able them to bear transportation. They ripen only 



104 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

partially off the stem, and after a very poor style, de- 
cay setting in at the same time ; consequently the pulp 
is not suitable to swallow, and is always more or less 
indigestible. The Para pines are seedless, and are 
propagated by replanting the suckers. The crown, 
we were told, would also thrive and reproduce the 
fruit if properly planted, but the first named pro- 
cess is that generally employed, and is probably the 
best. 

In the neighborhood of Para are many large and 
profitable cocoa plantations, the industry connected 
with which is a growing one, representing a consid- 
erable amount of capital. But above all others, the 
gathering and preparing of raw india-rubber for ex- 
portation is the prevailing industry of this Brazilian 
capital. 

The common people seem to be an uncertain mix- 
ture of races, confounding all attempts properly to 
analyze their antecedents. They have touches of re- 
finement and underlying tenderness of instinct, as 
exhibited in their home associations, but also evince 
a coarseness which is not inviting, to say the least. 
They are universal lovers of pet birds and small ani- 
mals. No household seems to be complete without 
some representatives of the sort. Among these are 
cranes, ibises, herons, turtle-doves, parrots, macaws, 
and paroquets. Monkeys of various tribes, the little 
marmoset being the favorite, are seen domesticated 
in almost every private garden, full of fun and mis- 
chief, and affording infinite amusement to the youthful 



ANACONDAS. 105 

members of the household. Young anacondas, some- 
times ten feet long, are kept in and about the dwell- 
ings, to catch and drive away the rats ! The reader 
smiles half incredulously at this; and we do not 
wonder. If one of these rodents be caught in a trap 
and killed, it is useless to offer it to an anaconda 
as food. That fastidious reptile will eat only such 
creatures as it kills itself. This is also characteristic 
of the African lion and the tiger of India, when in the 
wild state ; neither will molest a dead body, of man or 
beast, which they have not themselves deprived of life, 
though hyenas, wolves, and some other animals will 
even rob the graves of human bodies for food. We 
had never heard of anacondas employed as ratters be- 
fore we came to Para, but we were assured by those 
who should know that they are especially effective in 
warfare against this domestic pest. 

Broad verandas give a grateful shade to most of 
the dwelling-houses, which are seldom over one story 
in height, each one, however, extending over consid- 
erable ground space. In the business part of the 
town, fronting the harbor, the houses are generally 
two or even three stories in height, it being necessary 
in such localities to economize the square feet of 
ground occupied. The same sort of external orna- 
mentation is seen here as upon the house fronts in 
Mexico, namely, the profuse decoration of the walls 
with glazed earthen tiles, often of fancy colors, which 
gives a checkerboard appearance to a dwelling-house 
not calculated to please a critical eye. 



106 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

The Opera House of Para is a large and imposing 
structure, one of the finest edifices in the town, and 
the largest theatre, we believe, in South America, 
quite uncalled for, it would seem, by any local de- 
mand. It is built of brick, finished in stucco, the 
front being decorated with marble columns having 
handsome and elaborate Corinthian capitals. The 
house lights up brilliantly at night, being finished in 
red, white, and gold. It has four narrow galleries 
supported upon brackets, thus obviating the necessity 
for the objectionable upright posts which so provok- 
ingly interfere with the line of sight. The cathedral 
is a substantial and handsome structure, with a couple 
of tall towers, after the usual Spanish style, each con- 
taining a dozen bells. The interior has all the florid 
and tawdry ornamentation always to be found in Ro- 
man Catholic churches, together with the usual com- 
plement of bleeding figures, arrow -pierced saints, high- 
colored paper rosettes, utterly meaningless, together 
with any amount of glittering tinsel, calculated to 
catch the eye and captivate the imagination of the 
grossly ignorant native population. 

There are many minor churches in the city, and 
judging by the number seen in the streets, there must 
be at least a thousand priests, whose sole occupa- 
tion, when they are not gambling or cock-fighting, 
is to cajole and impoverish the common people. It 
was a church festival when we visited the cathedral. 
There are over two hundred such days, out of every 
three hundred and sixty-five, in Roman Catholic 



CHURCH FESTIVALS. 107 

countries, — not days of humiliation and prayer, but 
days of gross latitude, .of bull-fights, occasions when 
the decent amenities of life are ignored, days when 
the broadest license prevails, and all excesses are 
condoned. There were a large number of women 
present in the cathedral on this day, but scarcely 
half a dozen men. The better class were dressed 
gayly, and wore some rich jewelry. The love of finery 
prevails, and pervades all classes. Some of the ladies 
were clad in costly silks and laces, set off by brilliants 
and pearls. Diamonds and precious stones are very 
common in this country, and a certain class seem to 
carry a large share of their worldly possessions show- 
ily displayed upon their persons. What the humbler 
class lacked in richness of material, they made up in 
gaudy colors, blazing scarfs, and imitation gold and 
silver jewelry. Nature sets the example of bright col- 
ors in these latitudes, in gaudy plumed birds and high- 
tinted flowers and fruits. The natives only follow 
her. The few men who were present came to ogle the 
women, and having satisfied their low-bred curiosity, 
soon retired to the neighboring bar-rooms and gam- 
bling saloons. On special festal days temporary booths 
are erected in the squares, in which intoxicants are 
sold, together with toys, cakes, cigars, and charms, 
the latter said to have been blessed by the priests, 
and therefore sure to prevent any injury from the evil 
eye! 

As in most of the South American cities, there are 
several elaborate buildings here, formerly used as con- 



108 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

vents, which are now devoted to more creditable pur- 
poses. The present custom .house occupies one of 
these edifices, which is crowned with two lofty towers. 

There are plenty of mendicants in the streets of 
Para, who are very ready with their importunities, 
especially in appealing to strangers. The average 
citizens seemed to be liberal in dealing with these 
beggars. Saturday is called "poor day" in Para, 
as it is also in Havana, Matanzas, Cienfuegos, etc., 
when every housekeeper who is able to give some- 
thing does so, if it be only a small roll of bread, to 
each visiting beggar. At most houses these small rolls 
are baked regularly for this purpose, and the applicant 
is nearly sure to get one upon calling, and if he rep- 
resents a large family he may receive two. Money is 
rarely, if ever, given by residents, nor is it expected; 
but strangers are surrounded as by an army with ban- 
ners, and vigorously importuned for centavos. The 
Spaniards and Portuguese are natural beggars. 

Here let us digress for a moment. The system of 
beggary prevailing in Spanish countries is very trying 
to all sensitive travelers. In Italy, Spain, and the 
south of France, especially at the watering-places, it 
is a terrible pest. Naples has become almost unendur- 
able on this account. At every rod one is constantly 
importuned and followed by beggars of all sizes, ages, 
and of both sexes, — individuals who should be placed 
in asylums and cared for by the state. No reason- 
able person would object to paying a certain sum on 
entering these resorts, to be honestly devoted to char- 



PROFESSIONAL BEGGARS. 109 

itable purposes, provided it would insure him against 
the disgusting importunities of which strangers are now 
the victims. Visitors hasten away from the localities 
where these things are not only permitted but are 
encouraged. It is thought to be quite the thing to 
fleece foreigners of every possible penny, and by every 
possible means. The contrast in this respect between 
the cities of the United States and those of Europe 
and South America is eminently creditable to the 
former. In the beautiful little watering-place known 
as Luchon, in the south of France, at the foot of the 
Pyrenees, with scarcely four thousand inhabitants, 
there are over one hundred professional beggars, who 
constantly beset and drive away visitors. Some of 
these, as usual in such cases, are known to be well off 
pecuniarily, but are marked by some physical deform- 
ity upon which they trade. If the stranger gives, he 
is oftenest encouraging a swindle, rarely performing 
a true charity. This is one of the increasing dis- 
graces of Paris. Beggars know too much to impor- 
tune citizens, but strangers are beset at every corner 
of the boulevards and public gardens, particularly by 
children, girls and boys, trained for the purpose. 

Of all the races seen in Brazil, the half-breed Indian 
girls are the most attractive, and until they are past 
the age of twenty -five or thirty years they are almost 
universally handsome, no matter to what class they 
belong. Those who have -the advantage of domestic 
comforts, good food, and delicate associations de- 
velop accordingly, and are especially beautiful. They 



110 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

would make charming artists' models. The remarka- 
bly straight figure of the native women is noticeable, 
caused by the practice referred to of carrying bur- 
dens on the head. As already mentioned, if a negro 
or Indian woman has an article to transport, even 
if it be but a quart bottle, or an umbrella, it is placed 
at once upon the head. The article may weigh five 
pounds or fifty, it is all the same ; everything but the 
babies is thus transported. These little naked crea- 
tures, always suggestive of monkeys, are supported on 
the mother's back, held there by a shawl or rebozo 
tied securely across the chest. When the children 
are six or eight years old, they are promoted to the 
dignity of wearing one small garment, an abbreviated 
shirt or chemise. 

The principal food of the common people of north- 
ern Brazil is farina and dried fish, with fried plan- 
tains and ripe bananas. Crabs and oysters of a poor 
description abound along the coast, and are eaten by 
the people, both in a raw and cooked condition. But 
the white people avoid the coast oysters, which some- 
times poison those not accustomed to them. 

The finest avenue in Para is the Estrada de Sao 
Jose, bordered by grand old palms, which form a beau- 
tiful perspective and a welcome shade, the feathery 
tops nearly embracing each other overhead. The 
tramway takes one through the environs by the Rua 
de Nazareth, for five miles to Marco da Legua, where 
the public wells of the city are situated. The way 
thither is lined with neat and handsome dwellings, 



THE INDIA-RUBBER TREE. Ill 

shaded by noble trees. The botanical garden is well 
worth a visit by all lovers of horticulture. The forest 
creeps up towards the environs of the town, wherein 
many of the trees are rendered beautiful by clinging 
orchids of gorgeous blue ; others are of blood red, and 
some of orange yellow, presenting also a great diver- 
sity of form. One has not far to go to see specimens 
of the india-rubber tree, growing from ninety to a 
hundred feet in height, while measuring from four to 
five feet in diameter. This tree begins to produce 
gum at the age of fifteen years. The trunk is smooth 
and perfectly round, the bark of a buff color. It 
bears a curious fruit, of which some animals are said 
to be fond. The author has seen the india-rubber 
tree growing in the island of Ceylon, where it seemed 
to reach a greater height and dimensions than it does 
in the district of Para. A considerable portion of the 
roots lie above ground, stretching away from the base 
of the tree like huge anacondas, and finally disap- 
pearing in the earth half a rod or more from the par- 
ent trunk. The reader can hardly fail to be familiar 
with the simple wild plant, which grows so abun- 
dantly by our New England roadsides, known as the 
milk -weed, which, when the stem is cut or broken, 
emits a creamy, pungent smelling liquid. In the 
latitude of Para, this little weed, of the same family, 
assumes the form of a colossal tree, and is known as 
the india-rubber tree. The United States takes of 
Brazilian rubber, in the crude state, over twenty -five 
thousand tons annually. As to coffee, Brazil supplies 



112 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

one half of all which is consumed in the civilized 
world ; but we should frankly tell the reader, if he 
does not already realize the fact, that it is most fre- 
quently marked and sold for "Old Government 
Java." 

The india-rubber tree is tapped annually very much 
after the same style in which we treat the sugar-maple 
in Vermont, and elsewhere, to procure its sap. A yel- 
low, creamy liquid flows forth from the rubber tree 
into small cups placed beneath an incision made in the 
trunk. When the cup becomes full, its contents is 
emptied into a large common receptacle, where it is 
allowed to partially harden, and in which form it 
is called caoutchouc. The tapping of the trees and 
attending to the gathering of the sap furnish em- 
ployment to hundreds of the natives, who, however, 
make but small wages, being employed by contrac- 
tors, who either lease the trees of certain districts, or 
own large tracts of forest land. These Brazilian 
forests are very grand, abounding in valuable aro- 
matic plants, precious woods, gaudy birds, and va- 
rious wild animals. The number of monkeys is ab- 
solutely marvelous, including many curious varieties. 
A native will not kill a monkey; indeed, it must be 
difficult for a European to make up his mind to shoot 
a creature so nearly human in its actions, and whose 
pleading cries when wounded are said to be so pitiable. 

One of the peculiar street sights in Para is that 
of native women with a dozen young monkeys of dif- 
ferent species for sale. Marmosets can be bought for 



THE ROYAL PALM. 113 

a quarter of a dollar each. So tame are the little 
creatures that they cling about the woman's person, 
fastening upon her hair, arms, and neck, not in the 
least inclined to escape from her. It is remarkable 
and interesting to see how very fond they become of 
their owner, if he is kind to them. Like the dog 
and the cat, they seem to have a strong desire for 
human companionship. When seen running wild in 
the woods, leaping from tree to tree, and from branch 
to branch, they do not try to get far away from 
the presence of man, but only to keep, in their un- 
tamed state, just out of reach of his hands. Ships 
sailing hence generally take away a few of these ani- 
mals, but as they are delicate, and very sensitive to 
climatic changes, many of them die before reaching 
Europe or North America. . 

The great beauty of Para is its abundance of palm 
trees. The palm is always an interesting object, as 
well as a most valuable one ; interesting because of its 
historical and legendary associations, and valuable, 
since it would be almost impossible to enumerate the 
number of important uses to which it and its products 
are put. To the people of the tropics it is the prolific 
source of food, shelter, clothing, fuel, fibre for sev- 
eral uses, sugar, oil, wax, and wine. It has been 
aptly termed the "princess of the vegetable world." 
One indigenous species, the Piassaba, is a palm which 
yields a most valuable fibre, extensively manufactured 
into cordage and ships' cables, for which purpose it 
is much in use on the coast of South America. It 



114 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

is found to be stronger and more elastic than hemp 
when thus employed, besides which it is far more dur- 
able. The product of this species of palm is also ex- 
ported in large quantities to North America and to 
England, for the purpose of making brushes, brooms, 
and various sorts of domestic matting. 

The nights are especially beautiful in this region. 
We were interested in observing the remarkable bril- 
liancy of the sky ; the stars do not seem to sparkle, as 
with us at the north, but shed a soft, steady light, 
making all things luminous. This is the natural re- 
sult of the clearness of the atmosphere. One is sur- 
prised at first to find the moon apparently so much in- 
creased in size and effulgency. The Southern Cross 
is ever present, though it is dominated by the Centaur. 
Orion is seen in his glory, and the Scorpion is clearly 
defined. In the author's estimation, there is no exhi- 
bition of the heavens in these regions which surpasses 
the magnificence of the far-reaching Milky Way. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Island of Marajo. — Rare and Beautiful Birds. — Original Mode of 
Securing Humming-Birds. — Maranhao. — Educational. — Value of 
Native Forests. — Pernambuco. — Difficulty of Landing. — An Ill- 
chosen Name. — Local Scenes. — Uncleanly Habits of the People. — 
Great Sugar Mart. — Native Houses. — A Quaint Hostelry. — Cata- 
marans. — A Natural Breakwater. — Sailing down the Coast. 

The island of Marajo, situated at the mouth of the 
Amazon, opposite Para, and belonging to the province 
or state of that name, is a hundred and eighty miles 
in length and about one hundred and sixty in width, 
nearly identical in size with the island of Sicily, and 
almost oval in form. One of the principal shore 
settlements is Breves, on the southeastern corner of 
the island, which lies somewhat low, and consists of 
remarkably fertile soil, so abounding in wild and 
beautiful vegetation and exquisite floral varieties, 
that it is called in this region "the Island of Flow- 
ers." We can easily believe the name to be appropri- 
ately chosen, since, as we skirt its verdant shores hour 
after hour, they seem to emit the drowsy, caressing 
sweetness of fragrant flowers so sensibly as to almost 
produce a narcotic effect. The easterly or most sea- 
ward part of Marajo is open, marshy, sandy land, but 
back from the shore the soil is of a rich, black allu- 
vium, supporting in very large tracts a dense forest 



116 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

growth, similar to all the low lying tropical lands of 
South America. The population is recorded as num- 
bering about twenty thousand, divided into several 
settlements, mostly on the coast, and consists largely 
of the aboriginal race found by the first comers upon 
this island, who, on account of their somewhat isolated 
condition, have amalgamated less with Europeans and 
the imported colored race than any other tribe on the 
east coast of the continent. 

The extensive meadows of Marajo are the grazing 
fields of numerous herds of wild horses and horned 
cattle, the former of a superior breed, highly prized 
on the mainland ; and yet so rapidly do they increase 
in this climate, in the wild state, that every few years 
they are killed in large numbers for their hides alone. 
The exports from the island consist of rice, cattle, 
horses, and hides. There are some large plantations 
devoted to the cultivation of rice, the soil and water 
supply of certain districts being especially favorable 
to this crop. As intimated, a considerable portion of 
Marajo is covered with a forest growth so dense as to 
be compared to the jungles of Africa and India, and 
which, so far as is known, has never been penetrated 
by the foot of man. Travelers who have visited the 
borders of this leafy wilderness expatiate upon the 
strange, inexplicable sounds which are heard at times, 
amid the prevailing stillness and sombre aspect of 
these primeval woods. Sometimes there comes, it 
is said, from out the forest depth a wild cry, like that 
of a human being in distress, but which, however long 



PARADISE OF NATURALISTS. 117 

one may listen, is not repeated. Again, there is 
heard an awful crash, like the falling of some pon- 
derous forest giant, then stillness once more settles 
over the mysterious, tangled woods. Every time the 
silence is broken it seems to be by some new and in- 
explicable sound, not to be satisfactorily accounted for. 

The lagoons near the centre of Mara jo are said to 
abound in alligators, which are sometimes sought for 
by the natives for their hides, for which a fair price 
is realized, since fashion has rendered this article 
popular in a hundred different forms. The num- 
ber and variety of birds and lesser animals to be 
found upon the island are marvelous. Certain species 
of birds seem to have retreated to this spot from the 
mainland, before the tide of European immigration; 
indeed, it has for a long time been considered the 
paradise of the naturalist. Over thirty species of that 
peculiar bird, the toucan, have been secured here. 

When Professor Agassiz was engaged in his scien- 
tific exploration of the Amazon, he dispatched a small 
but competent party especially to obtain specimens 
from this island, the result being both a surprise and 
a source of great gratification to the king of natural- 
ists. Many of the objects secured by these explorers 
were rare and beautiful birds, not a few of which are 
unique, and of which no previous record existed. 
There were also many curious insects and other speci- 
mens particularly valuable to naturalists, most of which 
are preserved to-day in the Agassiz Museum at Cam- 
bridge, Massachusetts. The toucan, just spoken of, 



118 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

is most remarkable for its beauty and variety of col- 
ors, as well as for tlie very peculiar form and size 
of its elephantine bill, which makes it look singularly 
ill-balanced. This ludicrous appendage is nine inches 
long and three in circumference ; the color is vermilion 
and yellow delicately mingled. The toucan is much 
coveted for special collections by all naturalists, and 
is becoming very scarce, except in this one equatorial 
locality. Scarlet ibises and roseate spoonbills are 
also found at Marajo, both remarkably fine examples 
of semi-aquatic fowl, and when these are secured in 
good condition for preservation, the natives realize 
good prices for them. In order to procure desirable 
specimens of the humming-bird species, which are 
also abundant on this island, the native hunters resort 
to an ingenious device, so as not to injure the skin or 
the extremely delicate plumage of this butterfly-bird. 
For this purpose they use a peculiar syringe made from 
reeds, and charged with a solution of adhesive gum, 
which, when directed by an experienced hand, clogs 
the bird's wings at once, stopping its flight and caus- 
ing it to fall to the ground. Some are caught by means 
of nets set on the end of long bamboo poles, such as 
are used to secure butterflies, but this method is poorly 
adapted to catch so quick moving a creature as a hum- 
ming-bird. The author has seen, in southern India, 
butterflies of gaudiest texture with bodies as large as 
small humming-birds, which were quite as brilliant 
as they in lovely colors. The variety and beauty 
of this insect, as found anywhere from Tuticorin to 



ISLAND OF MARA JO. 119 

Darjeeling, is notable. Wherever British troops are 
permanently settled, the wives of the common soldiers 
become very expert in catching and arranging these 
attractive objects, preserving them in frames under 
glass. These find ready purchasers for museums and 
private collections all over Europe, and are sold at 
moderate prices, but serve to add a welcome trifle to 
the extremely poor pay of a common soldier having 
perhaps a wife and one or two children to support. 

The island of Marajo was not formed at the Ama- 
zon's mouth of soil brought down from the interior by 
the river's current, as is often the case with islands 
thus situated, but is a natural, rocky formation which 
serves to divide the channel and give the river a 
double outlet into the Atlantic. Agassiz studied its 
character, and gives us an interesting statement as the 
result. He declared, after careful geological exami- 
nation, that it is an island which was once situated 
far inland, away from the river's mouth, but which 
is now brought near to it by the gradual encroach- 
ment of the Atlantic Ocean, whose waves and rest- 
less currents have slowly worn away the northeastern 
part of the continent. This abrasion must have 
been going on for many thousand years, to have pro- 
duced such a decided topographical change. For the 
word years, upon second thought, read ages, which 
will undoubtedly express the true idea much more 
correctly. 

There are over twenty species of palms indigenous 
to Marajo, which, as one skirts the water front, are 



120 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

seen growing along the far-reaching shore, fostered by 
the humidity of the atmosphere arising from the ever- 
flowing waters of the great river. Among these the 
peach-palm is quite conspicuous, with its spiny stems 
and mealy, nutritious fruit. There are also the 
cocoa-palm and the assai-palm, the latter gayly dec- 
orated with its delicate green plumes and long spear 
pointing heavenward, an emblem borne by no other 
tree in existence. The great variety of forms of plant 
life and giant grasses is extremely curious and beau- 
tiful on this interesting island. We heard, while at 
Para, of a proposal made by some European party to 
thoroughly explore Marajo, which has never yet been 
done, so far as is known to our time, and it is believed 
that some very interesting and valuable discoveries 
may be the result of such an expedition, composed of 
engineers, scientists, and naturalists. 

A day's sail to the eastward, bearing a little to the 
south along the coast, brings us to the port of Ma- 
ranhao, which is the capital of a province of Brazil 
known by the same name, situated a little over three 
hundred miles from Para. The place is picturesquely 
nestled, as it were, in the very lap of the mountains, 
which come boldly down to the coast at this point. 
It was founded nearly three hundred years ago, is 
regularly built, and contains between thirty and forty 
thousand inhabitants. Nearly all of the houses, which 
are generally of two stories, are ornamented with at- 
tractive balconies, and have handsome gardens attached 
to them, where the luxurious verdure is with difficulty 



MARANHAO. 121 

kept within proper bounds. Vegetation runs riot in 
equatorial regions. It is the one pleasing outlet of 
nature, whose overcharged vitality, spurred on by the 
climate, must find vent either in teeming vegetation 
or in raging volcanoes, tidal waves, and unwelcome 
earthquakes, though sometimes, to be sure, we find 
them all combined in the tropics. 

The harbor of Maranhao is excellent and sheltered, 
the depth of water permitting the entrance of ships 
drawing full twenty feet, an advantage which some 
of the ports to the southward would give millions of 
dollars to possess. According to published statistics, 
the exports during 1890 were as follows: thirty-six 
hundred tons of cotton, six hundred tons of sugar, 
seven hundred tons of hides, a large amount of rice, 
and some other minor articles. The imports for the 
same period were estimated at something less than 
three million dollars in value. This is the entrepot 
of several populous districts, besides that of which 
it is the capital. The province itself contains a 
number of navigable rivers, with some thrifty towns 
on their banks. The bay gives ample evidence of 
commercial activity, containing at all times a number 
of foreign steamships, with a goodly show of coasting 
vessels. The place is slowly but steadily growing in 
its business relations, and in the number of its per- 
manent population. 

It cannot make any pretension to architectural 
excellence, though the Bishop's palace and the ca- 
thedral are handsome structures. There are two or 



122 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

three other prominent edifices, quaint and Moorish, 
which were once nunneries or monasteries; also a 
foundling institution, a special necessity in all Roman 
Catholic countries. We found here a public library, 
and a botanical garden. Not far inland there are 
some extensive rice plantations, the province in some 
portions being specially adapted to producing this 
valuable staple. We were informed by those whose 
opinion was worthy of respect, that educational advan- 
tages are rather remarkable here, the Lyceum having 
in the past few years graduated some of the most 
prominent statesmen and professionals in Brazil. 
One thing is very certain, the authorities cannot mul- 
tiply educational facilities any too rapidly in this 
country, nor give the subject any too much attention, 
especially as regards the rising generation of both 
sexes. So far as we could learn by inquiry, or judge 
by careful observation, the ignorance of the mass of 
the people is simply deplorable. 

Maranhao is situated about fourteen hundred miles 
north of Rio Janeiro, with which port it carries on 
an extensive coasting trade. The exports, besides the 
staples already spoken of, are various, including an- 
notto, sarsaparilla, balsam copaiba, and other medi- 
cinal extracts, together with rum and crude india- 
rubber. The climate is torrid, the city being one 
hundred and fifty miles south of the equator; and 
though, like most of the towns on the eastern coast 
of the continent, it is rather an unhealthy locality, it 
is much less so than Para, and is a far more cleanly 



LOCAL PRODUCTS. 123 

place than that city, its situation giving it the advan- 
tage of a system of natural drainage. The country 
near Maranhao abounds in native forests of exuber- 
ant richness, producing a valuable quality of timber, 
and affording some of the finest cabinet woods known 
to commerce, as well as a practically inexhaustible 
supply of various dyewoods, a considerable business 
being done in the export of the latter article. It was 
observed that the assai-palm, from which the palm 
wine is made, was also a prominent feature here. 
The trunk is quite smooth, the fruit growing in heavy 
bunches like grapes, dark brown in color, and about 
the size of cranberries, hanging in heavy clusters just 
below the bunch of long leaves which forms the top of 
the tree. The native drink which is made from these 
palm grapes is a favorite beverage in northern Bra- 
zil, and when properly fermented it contains about the 
same percentage of alcohol as English pale ale. 

To the author, the town of Maranhao was quite 
unknown; even its place upon the maps had never 
attracted his attention until after it was seen lying 
peacefully in an amphitheatre of tall hills, which come 
down close to the rock-ribbed shore of the Atlantic 
Ocean. This acknowledgment is between ourselves, 
for such a confession would sound very ridiculous to 
the good people of Maranhao. 

After leaving its harbor, our next objective point 
was Pernambuco, which is situated about four days' 
sail from Para by steamship, and about three from 
Maranhao. 



124 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

This well-known port, with its one hundred and fifty 
thousand inhabitants, is reckoned as the third city of 
Brazil in point of size and commercial importance. 
It lacks elevation to produce a good effect, and recalls 
the low-lying city of Havana in general appearance, 
as one approaches it from the sea. The harbor is not 
what could be desired for a commercial city, having 
hardly sufficient depth of water for vessels of heavy 
tonnage, and being also too narrow for a modern long 
steamship to safely turn in. The American line of 
steamships come to a mooring inside the harbor, but 
the European lines, or at least the Pacific Mail, in 
which we made the home passage, anchor in the open 
roadstead, three quarters of a mile from the shore. 
The harbor is formed by a long natural reef, which 
makes a breakwater between it and the open sea, a 
portion of the reef having been built up with solid 
masonry to render it more effective. This remark- 
able coral formation, which is more or less clearly 
defined, extends along the coast for a considerable 
distance, — it is said for four hundred miles. Op- 
posite Pernambuco it rises six feet above the water, 
that is, above high-water mark, and runs parallel to 
the front street of the city at the distance from it of 
about a third of a mile or less. A wide opening in 
the reef at the northern end <?f the town makes the 
entrance to the harbor. Off the northeast coast of 
Australia, there is a very similar reef -formation, fully 
as long as this on the South American coast, but 
situated much further from the shore. 



HARBOR OF PERNAMBUCO. 125 

It is a serious drawback that passengers by large 
ocean steamers cannot enter the harbor of Pernam- 
buco except by lighters or open boats ; all freight 
brought by these steamers must also be transhipped. 
Landing here is often accomplished at considerable 
personal risk, and a thorough ducking with salt water 
is not at all uncommon in the attempt to reach the 
shore. To pull a boat from the open roadstead into 
the harbor, or vice versa, requires six stout oarsmen 
and an experienced man at the helm, so that landing 
from the Pacific Mail steamers is both a serious and 
an expensive affair. If a very heavy sea is running, 
the thing cannot be done, and no one will attempt it. 
The powerful wind which so often prevails on the coast 
occasionally creates quite a commotion even inside the 
harbor, among the shipping moored there, causing the 
largest cables to part and vessels to drag their an- 
chors. Of course a vessel lying in the open road- 
stead, outside of the reef, has no protection whatever, 
and is in a critical situation if the wind blows to- 
wards the land. If it comes on to blow suddenly, she 
buoys and slips her anchor at once; she dares not 
waste the time to hoist it, but gets away as quickly 
as possible to where there is plenty of sea room and 
no lee shore to fear. Fortunately, though so fierce for 
the time being, and of a cyclonic character, the storms 
upon the coast are generally of brief duration, and 
like the furious pamperos, which are so dreaded by 
mariners further south, they blow themselves out in 
a few hours. 



126 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

The geographical situation of Pernambuco is such, 
in the track of commerce, that vessels bound north or 
south, from Europe or from North America, naturally 
make it a port of call to obtain late advices and pro- 
visions. The name has been singularly chosen, no 
one can say how or by whom, but it signifies "the 
mouth of hell," a cognomen which we do not think 
the place at all deserves. It is a narrow, crowded, 
picturesque old seaport. 

The town is situated at the mouth of the Biberibe 
River, just five hundred miles south of the equator, 
and is divided in rather a peculiar manner into three 
distinct parts: Recife, on a narrow peninsula; Boa 
Vista, on the river shore; and San Antonio, on an 
island in the river; all being connected, however, by 
six or eight substantial iron bridges. The first named 
division is the business portion of the capital, about 
whose water front the commercial life of Pernambuco 
centres, but the streets of Recife are very narrow and 
often confusingly crooked. Boa Vista is beautified 
by pleasant domestic residences, delightful gardens, 
and attractive promenades, far beyond anything which 
a stranger anticipates meeting in this part of the 
world. Though the business portion of the city is so 
low, the other sections are of better and more recent 
construction. 

The view of the town and harbor to be had from 
some portions of Olinda is very fine and compre- 
hensive, taking in a wide reach of land and ocean. 
When a brief storm is raging, spending its force 



DISREGARD OF SANITARY CONDITIONS. 127 

against the reef, the view from this point is indeed 
grand. The sea, angered at meeting a substantial 
impediment, seethes and foams in wild excitement, 
dashing fifty feet into the air, and, falling over the 
reef, lashes the inner waters of the harbor into waves 
which mount the landing piers, and set everything 
afloat in the broad plaza which lines the shore. The 
big ships rock and sway incessantly, straining at their 
anchors, or chafing dangerously at their moorings. 
Precautions are taken to avert damage, but man's 
strength and skill count for little when opposed by the 
enraged elements. 

This plaza, or quay, is shaded by aged magnolias of 
great height, and is the resort of unemployed seamen, 
fruit dealers, and idlers of all degrees. The house- 
fronts in the various sections of the town are bril- 
liantly colored, yellow, blue, white, and pink, also 
sometimes being covered halfway up the first story 
with glittering tiles of various hues. At nearly every 
turn one comes upon the mossgrown, crumbling fa- 
cade of some old church, about the corners of which 
there is often a grossly filthy receptacle, the vile odor 
from which permeates the surrounding atmosphere. 
This was found to be almost insupportable with the 
thermometer standing at 90° Fahr. in the shade, 
forming so obvious a means for propagating malarial 
fever and sickness generally as to be absolutely ex- 
asperating. Notwithstanding all appearances, the 
American consul assured us that Pernambuco is one 
of the healthiest cities on the east coast of South 



128 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

America. The yellow fever, however, does not by 
any means forget to visit the place annually. Expe- 
rience showed us that the residents along the coast 
were accustomed to give their own city precedence in 
the matter of hygienic conditions, and to admit, with 
serious faces, that the other capitals, north and 
south, were sadly afflicted by epidemics at nearly all 
seasons. 

Pernambuco has several quite small but well-ar- 
ranged public squares, decorated with fountains, trees, 
and flowers of many species. Two of these plazas 
have handsome pagodas, from which outdoor concerts 
are often given by military bands. The city is a 
thriving and progressive place, has extensive gas 
works, an admirable system of water supply, tram- 
ways, good public schools, and one college or high 
school. We must not forget to add to this list a 
very flourishing foundling asylum, where any num- 
ber of poor little waifs are constantly being received, 
and no questions asked. A revolving box or cradle 
is placed in a wall of the hospital, next to the street, 
in which any person can deposit an infant, ring the 
bell, and the cradle will revolve, leaving the child 
on the inside of the establishment, where the little 
deserted object will be duly cared for. Connected 
with the hospital are several outlying buildings, where 
children are placed at various stages of growth. We 
were told that about forty per cent, of such children 
live to grow up to maturity, and leave the care of 
the government fairly well fitted to take their place 



DOMESTIC HABITS. 129 

in the world, and to fight the battle of life so very 
inauspiciously begun. It has been strongly argued 
that such an establishment offers a premium upon 
illegitimacy and immorality; but one thing is to be 
considered, it prevents the terrible crime of infanti- 
cide, which is said to have prevailed here to an alarm- 
ing extent before this hospital was founded. 

There is a passably good system of drainage, which 
was certainly very much needed, and since its com- 
pletion the general health of the place is said to have 
considerably improved. This is not all that is re- 
quired, however. There should be a decided reform 
in the habits of the people as regards cleanliness. At 
present they are positively revolting. The inhabit- 
ants are the very reverse of neat in their domestic as- 
sociations, and home arrangements for natural conven- 
iences are inexcusably objectionable; such, indeed, as 
would in a North American city, or even small town, 
call for the prompt interference of the local board of 
health. These remarks do not apply to isolated cases ; 
the trouble is universal. Families living otherwise in 
comparative affluence utterly disregard neatness and 
decency in the matter to which we allude. 

The districts neighboring to Pernambuco form ex- 
tensive plains, well adapted to the raising of sugar, 
coffee, and cotton, as well as all sorts of tropical fruits 
and vegetables. There are many flourishing planta- 
tions representing these several interests, more espe- 
cially that of sugar. The storehouses on the wharves 
and in the business sections of the city, the oxcarts 



130 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

passing through the streets, drawn each by a single 
animal, and even the very atmosphere, seem to be full 
of sugar. It is, in fact, the great sugar mart of 
South America. The annual amount of the article 
which is exported averages some twelve hundred thou- 
sand tons. Sugar is certainly king at Pernambuco. 
People not only drink, but they talk sugar. It is the 
one great interest about which all other business re- 
volves. The article is mostly of the lower grade, and 
requires to be refined before it is suitable for the mar- 
ket. The refining process is being generally adopted 
at the plantations. American machinery is intro- 
duced for the purpose with entire success. The ex- 
port of the crude article will, it is believed, be much 
less every year for the future, until it ceases alto- 
gether. It was a singular sight to observe the naked 
negroes carrying canvas bags of crude sugar upon 
their heads through the streets, each bag weighing a 
hundred pounds or more. The intense heat caused 
the canvas to exude quantities of syrup or molasses, 
which covered their dark, glossy bodies with small 
streams of fluid. They trotted along in single file, 
and at a quick pace, towards their destination, un- 
heeding the sticky condition of their woolly heads and 
naked bodies. 

Not far inland there are extensive meadows, where 
large herds of horned cattle are raised, together with 
a breed of half -wild horses, the breaking and domes- 
ticating of which, as here practiced, is a most cruel 
process. A certain set of men devote themselves to 



HARBOR IMPROVEMENTS. 131 

this business; rough riders, we should call them, very 
rough. Good horses are to be had at extraordina- 
rily low prices. In the back country there are some 
grand and extensive forests, which produce fine cabinet 
woods and superior dyewoods. 

By consulting a map of the western hemisphere, 
it will be seen that Pernambuco is situated on the 
great eastern shoulder of South America, where it 
pushes farthest into the Atlantic Ocean, fifteen hun- 
dred miles south of Para, and about five hundred 
north of Bahia. On the long coral reef which sepa- 
rates the harbor from the open sea is a picturesque 
lighthouse, also a quaint old watch tower which dates 
from the time of the Dutch dominion here. It is pro- 
posed to build additional layers of heavy granite 
blocks upon the reef, so as to raise it about six or 
eight feet higher and make it of a uniform elevation 
along the entire city front, and thus afford almost com- 
plete protection for the inner anchorage. It will be 
only possible to make any real improvement of the 
harbor by adopting a thorough system of dredging 
and deepening. There was evidence of such a purpose 
being already in progress on our second visit, two 
large steam dredging machines being anchored at the 
southerly end of the harbor. 

The people of this hot region know the great value 
of shade trees, consequently they abound, half hiding 
from view the numerous handsome villas which form 
the attractive suburbs of the city. Everywhere one 
sees tall cocoanut palms, clusters of feathery bam- 



132 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

boos, widespread mangoes, prolific bananas, gnavas, 
and plantains growing among other graceful tropical 
trees, rich in the green texture of their foliage, and 
thrice rich in their luscious and abundant fruits. 
Among the vine products we must not forget to men- 
tion a rich, high flavored grape, which is native here, 
and which all people praise after once tasting. The 
water, which is brought into the city by a system of 
double iron pipes, comes from a neighboring lake, and 
is a pure and wholesome drink, a most incomparable 
blessing in equatorial regions, which no person who 
has not suffered for the want of it can duly appreciate. 
The International Hotel is the favorite resort of 
strangers, and is situated a couple of miles from the 
harbor. It is surrounded by beautiful trees and flow- 
ers, the golden oranges weighing down the branches 
nearly to the ground by their size and abundance, 
while the young blossoms fill the air with their deli- 
cate perfume, — fruit and blossoms on the tree at the 
same time. The garden is thronged by household 
pets, and contains a spacious aviary. The monkey 
tribe is fully represented ; gaudy winged parrots daz- 
zle the eye with impossible colors. One partakes here, 
in the open air, of the refreshing viands amid the 
songs of birds, the occasional scream of the cockatoo, 
the cooing of turtle-doves, and the fragrance of a pro- 
fusion of tropical flowers. The native servants are 
well-trained, and there is a French chef. We were 
told that this attractive place had once belonged to a 
very wealthy Brazilian, a planter, who had come to 



A PERNAMBUCO HOTEL. 133 

grief financially, and as the house was offered for sale, 
it had been purchased for one fifth of its original cost 
and adapted to hotel purposes. While enjoying our 
fruit at dessert, a somewhat similar experience was 
recalled as having taken place at Christiania, in Nor- 
way, where visitors enjoy the meals in a sort of out- 
door museum and garden, surrounded by curious pre- 
served birds mingled with living ones, the latter so 
tame as to alight fearlessly upon the table and await 
any choice bit guests may offer them. 

We shall not soon forget the very appetizing dinner 
of which we partook, amid such attractive surround- 
ings, in the gardens of the International Hotel at Per- 
nambuco. One fruit which was served to us is known 
by the name of the loquat. It is round, dark yellow, 
and about the size of a Tangerine orange, — a great 
favorite with the natives, though it is mostly stone and 
skin, and tastes like turpentine. 

This city is often called the Venice of Brazil, but 
why, it is difficult for one to understand. It is only 
poetical license, for there is not the first actual resem- 
blance between the two cities. True, there are several 
watercourses, and half a dozen bridges, intersecting 
this Brazilian capital. One would be equally justified 
in calling the frail catamarans which are used by the 
fishermen in these waters, gondolas. This singular 
craft, by the way, consists of four or five logs of 
the cork-palm tree, confined together by a series of 
strong lashings, no nails being used, thus securing a 
necessary degree of elasticity. One end of the logs 



134 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

is hewn down to a smaller size or width than the 
other, thus forming - stem and stern, while a single 
thick plank serves as a keel. There are no bulwarks 
to this crazy craft, — for it can hardly be called any- 
thing else, — the whole being* freely washed by the 
sea; but yet, with a rude mast carrying a triangular 
sail, and with a couple of oars, two or three fisher- 
men venture far away from the shore ; indeed, we 
encountered them out of sight of land. A couple 
of upright stakes are driven into the logs, to hold on 
by when occasion requires. It is really wonderful 
to see how weatherly such a frail affair can be, and 
how literally safe in a rough seaway. The boatmen 
who navigate these catamarans (they are called here 
janguardas) manage to keep the market of Pernam- 
buco abundantly supplied with the strange, fantastic 
fish which so prevail along the Atlantic coast in equa- 
torial regions. 

We have seen a craft very similar to these cata- 
marans in use off the Coromandel coast, between Ma- 
dras and the mouth of the Hoogly Kiver, which leads 
up to Calcutta. Here the natives manage them in a 
sea so rough that an ordinary ship's boat, if exposed, 
would surely be swamped. The Madras catamaran 
consists of three pieces of timber, mere logs twelve or 
fourteen feet long, securely bound together with ropes 
made from the fibre of the cocoanut palm. Nails 
are no more available here than in the former crafts 
we have named. No nails could withstand the wrench- 
ing which this raft is subjected to. The middle log 



CATAMARANS. ■ 135 

is a little longer than the two outside ones, and is 
given a slight upward turn at the end which forms 
the prow. No sail is used, but two fishermen gener- 
ally go out with each of these rafts, propelling them 
with broad-bladed paddles, used alternately on either 
side. Of course the natives who navigate these crafts 
are naked, with the exception of a breech-cloth at the 
loins. They are very frequently thrown off by the sea, 
but regain their places with remarkable agility. They 
manage also, somehow, to secure their fishing gear, 
and generally to bring in a remunerative fare from 
their excursions. Strange as the catamaran is, it 
must yet be described as breezy, watery, and safe — 
for amphibious creatures. There is one enemy these 
fishermen have to look out for, namely the shark, both 
on the coast of Madras and South America. It is 
more common to say when one is lost that the sharks 
got him, than it is to say he was drowned. 

The reef so often referred to, forming the break- 
water opposite Pernambuco, is about forty feet in width 
at the surface, and is the marvelous architecture of 
that tiny coral builder which works beneath these 
southern seas. When it has reared a pyramid reach- 
ing from the far bottom of the ocean to the surface, 
its mission is performed and it dies. It lives and 
works only beneath the surface of the sea ; atmospheric 
air is fatal to it. The pyramids of Egypt cannot com- 
pare with these submerged structures for height, solid- 
ity, or magnitude. One is the product of a creature 
of such seeming unimportance as to require micro- 



136 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

scopic aid to detect its existence ; the other are monu- 
ments erected by ancient kings commanding infinite 
resources; the former being the process of nature in 
carrying out her great and mysterious plan; the lat- 
ter, the ambitious work of men whose very identity is 
now questionable. If we were to enter into a calcu- 
lation based upon known scientific facts, as to how 
many thousands of years were required for this mi- 
nute animal to rear this massive structure, the result 
would astonish the average reader. 

On approaching Pernambuco from the sea, the first 
object to attract the eye is the long line of snow white 
breakers, caused by the incessant swell of the sea 
striking against the firmly planted reef with a deafen- 
ing surge, breaking into foam and spray which are 
thrown forty feet and more into the air. As we 
drew near for the first time, the extended line of 
breakers was illumined by the early morning sun, 
making fancy rainbows and misty pictures in the 
mingled air and water. We were escorted by myri- 
ads of sea birds, whose sharp cries came close upon 
the ear, as they flew in and about the rigging. Be- 
hind the reef lay the comparatively smooth waters of 
the harbor, dotted here and there by tiny white sails, 
curious shaped coasting craft, rowboats, and steam 
tugs, while the background was formed by a leafless 
forest of tall ships' masts which lined the wharves, 
and partially screened the low-lying capital from 
view. 

We have remained quite long enough at this city 



COAST OF BRAZIL. 137 

of the reef, and now turn southward towards the more 
attractive port of Bahia. 

In running down the coast, the Brazilian shore is 
so near as to be distinctly visible, with its surf- 
fringed beach of golden sands extending mile after 
mile, beyond which, far inland, rise ranges of forest- 
clad hills, and beyond these, sky-reaching alps. It 
is often necessary to give the land a wide berth, as at 
certain points dangerous sandbars make out from it 
far to seaward ; but whenever near enough to the 
coast to make out the character of the vegetation, 
it was of deepest green and exuberantly tropical. 
With the exception of one or two small towns, and an 
occasional fisherman's hamlet, the shore presented no 
signs of habitation, being mostly a sandy waste ad- 
joining the sea, where heavy rollers spent their force 
upon the smooth, water-worn, yellow beach. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Port of Bahia. — A Quaint Old City. — Former Capital of Brazil. -» 
Whaling Interests. — Beautiful Panorama. — Tramways. — No Color 
Line Here. — The Sedan Chair. — Feather Flowers. — Great Orange 
Mart. — Passion Flower Fruit. — Coffee, Sugar, and Tobacco. — A 
Coffee Plantation. — Something about Diamonds. — Health of the 
City. — Curious Tropical Street Scenes. 

Bahia, — pronounced Bah-ee'ah, — situated three 
hundred and fifty miles south of Pernambuco, is the 
capital of a province of the same name in Brazil, and 
contains nearly two hundred thousand inhabitants. It 
is admirably situated on elevated ground at the en- 
trance of All Saints Bay, — Todos os Santos, — just 
within Cape San Antonio, eight hundred miles or 
thereabouts north of Rio Janeiro. The entrance of 
the bay is seven miles broad. For its size, there are 
few harbors in the world which present a more attrac- 
tive picture as one first beholds it on entering from 
the open Atlantic. The elevated site of the city, with 
its close array of neat, white three and four story 
houses, breaks the sky line in front of the anchorage, 
while the town forms a half moon in shape, extending 
for a couple of miles each way, right and left. Near 
the water's edge, on the lower line of the city, are 
many substantial warehouses, official establishments, 
the custom house, and the like. Between the lower and 



YELLOW FEVER. 139 

the upper town is a long reach of green terraced em- 
bankment, intense in its bright verdure. Probably 
no other city on the globe, certainly not so far as our 
experience extends, is so peculiarly divided. 

A sad episode marked our first experience here. We 
came to anchor in the harbor, according to custom, at 
what is known as the Quarantine. About a cable's 
length from us lay a large European steamship, flying 
the yellow flag at the fore. She came into port from 
Rio Janeiro on the previous evening ; five of her pas- 
sengers who had died of yellow fever on the passage 
were buried at sea, while two more were down with it, 
and were being taken to the lazaretto on shore, as 
we dropped our anchor. Probably they went there 
to die. This was naturally depressing, more so, per- 
haps, as we were bound direct for Rio Janeiro ; but 
as we now came from a northern port with a clean bill 
of health, we were finally released from quarantine 
and permitted to land. It is late in the season — 
last of May — for this pest of the coast to prevail, 
but the year 1891 has been one of unusual fatality 
in the South American ports, and none of them have 
been entirely exempt from the scourge, some showing 
a fearful list of mortality among both citizens and 
strangers. We were conversant with many instances 
of a particularly trying and sad nature, if any distinc- 
tion can be made where death intervenes with such a 
rude hand. Victims who were in apparent good health 
in the morning were not infrequently buried on the 
evening of the same day ! But we will spare the 
reader harrowing details. 



140 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

Americus Vespucius discovered Bahia in 1503, 
while sailing under the patronage of Portugal, and 
as it was settled in 1511, it is the oldest city in the 
country, being also the second in size, though not in 
commercial importance. The excellent harbor is so 
spacious as to form a small inland sea, the far reach- 
ing shores of which are beautified by mingled green 
foliage and pretty villas stretching along the bay, 
while the business portion gives evidence of a grow- 
ing and important foreign trade. This deduction is 
also corroborated by the presence of numerous Euro- 
pean steamships, and full-rigged sailing vessels de- 
voted to the transportation of merchandise. The 
buildings are generally of a substantial appearance, 
whether designed as residences or for business pur- 
poses, but are mostly of an antique pattern, old and 
dingy. Though the city is divided into the lower 
and the upper town, the latter two or three hundred 
feet above the former, it is made easily accessible by 
mechanical means. A large elevator, run by hydraulic 
power, is employed for the purpose, which was built 
by an energetic Yankee, and has been in successful 
operation several years, taking the citizens from the 
lower to the upper town, as we pass from basement to 
attic in our tall North American buildings. Between 
the two portions of Bahia there are streets for the 
transportation of merchandise, which wind zigzag 
fashion along the ravine to avoid the abruptness of the 
ascent. Besides these means, there are narrow stone 
steps leading upwards to the first level, among the 






VIEW OF BAHIA. 141 

tropical verdure, the deep green branches and leaves 
nodding to one from out of narrow lanes and quiet 
nooks. There is still another way of reaching the 
upper town, namely, a cable road, of very steep grade, 
one car ascending while another descends, thus forming 
a sort of counterbalance. By all these facilities united, 
the population manage very comfortably to overcome 
the topographical difficulties of the situation. 

Though there are few buildings of any special note 
in Bahia, the general architecture being quaint and 
nondescript, still the combined view of the city, as 
we have endeavored to show, is of no inconsiderable 
beauty. We approached it from the north, doubling 
Light House Point in the early morning, just as the 
rising sun lighted up the bay. Seen from the harbor, 
the large dome of the cathedral overlooks the whole 
town very much like the gilded dome which forms so 
conspicuous an object on approaching the city of Bos- 
ton. The dark, low-lying, grim-looking fort, which 
presides over the quarantine anchorage, is built upon 
a natural ledge of rock, half a mile from the shore 
of the town, and looks like a huge cheese-box. 

In the upper portion of Bahia the streets are nar- 
row, and the houses so tall as to nearly exclude the 
sun when it is not in the zenith. They are built of a 
native stone, and differ from the majority of South 
American dwellings, which are rarely over two stories 
in height, and generally of one only. We have heard 
it argued that it is advantageous to build tropical 
cities with narrow streets, so as to exclude the heat of 



142 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

the sun's rays and thus keep the houses cooler. This 
is not logical. Wide avenues and broad streets give 
ventilation which cannot be obtained in any other way 
in populous centres. Narrow lanes invite epidemics, 
fevers, and malarial diseases ; broad thoroughfares give 
less opportunity for their lodgment. A beehive of 
human beings, crowded together in a narrow space, 
exhausts the life-giving principle of the surrounding 
atmosphere, but this is impossible where plenty of 
room is given for the circulation of fresh air. 

These tall houses of Bahia have overhanging orna- 
mental balconies, which towards evening are filled 
with the female portion of the families, laughing, chat- 
ting, singing, and smoking, for the ladies of these lati- 
tudes smoke in their domestic circles. Narrow as the 
streets of Bahia are, room is found for a well patron- 
ized tramway to run through them. No one thinks of 
walking, if it be for only a couple of hundred rods, on 
the line of the street cars. All of the civilized world 
seems to have grown lazy since the introduction of this 
modern facility for cheap transportation. 

Bahia was the capital of Brazil until 1763, during 
which year the headquarters of the government were 
removed to Bio Janeiro. 

This is a sort of New Bedford, so to speak, having 
been for more than a century extensively engaged in the 
whaling business, an occupation which is still pursued 
to a limited extent. Whales frequent the bay of Bahia, 
where they are sometimes captured by small boats 
from the shore. It is supposed that the favorite food 



PURSUIT OF WHALES. 143 

of this big game is found in these waters. There was 
a time when the close pursuit by fishing fleets fitted 
out in nearly all parts of the world rendered the whales 
wary and scarce. The catching and killing of so 
many seemed to have thinned out their number in 
most of the seas of the globe. Then came the great 
discovery of rock oil, which rapidly superseded the 
whale oil of commerce in general use. Thereupon the 
pursuit of the gigantic animal ceased to be of any 
great moment, while there was oil enough spontaneously 
pouring out of the wells of Pennsylvania, and else- 
where, to fully satisfy the demand of the world at large. 
Being no longer hunted, the whales gradually became 
tame and increased in numbers, so that to-day there 
are probably as many in the usual haunts of these 
leviathans in either hemisphere as there ever were. 
The briefest sea voyage can hardly be made without 
sighting one or more of them, and sometimes in large 
schools. 

There is a portion of the elevated section of Bahia 
which is called Victoria, a really beautiful locality, 
having delightful gardens, attractive walks, and myri- 
ads of noble shade trees. From here the visitor over- 
looks the bay, with its islands and curving shore decked 
with graceful palms, bamboos, and mango groves ; upon 
the water are numerous tiny boats, while white winged 
sailing ships and dark, begrimed steamers unite in 
forming a picture of active life and maritime beauty. 
In the distance lies the ever green island of Itaparica, 
named after the first governor's Indian bride, while 



144 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

still farther away is seen range after range of tall, 
purple hills, multiplied until lost in the distance. 

A few grim looking convents and monasteries, which 
have gradually come into the possession of the govern- 
ment, are now used as free schools, libraries, and hos- 
pitals. There is a medical college here which has a 
national reputation for general excellence, and many 
students come from Rio Janeiro, eight hundred miles 
away, to avail themselves of its advantages, receiving 
a diploma after attending upon its three years' course 
of studies. From subsequent inquiry, however, not 
only here but in Rio and elsewhere, we are satisfied 
that the science of medicine and surgery stands at a 
very low ebb throughout this great southland. For- 
eign doctors are looked upon with great distrust and 
jealousy ; indeed, it is very difficult for them to obtain 
a suitable license to practice in Brazil. This does not 
apply to dentistry, of which profession there are many 
American experts in the country, who have realized 
decided pecuniary and professional success. There 
were six or eight on board the Vigilancia, who had 
been on a visit to their North American homes during 
the summer season, at which time the fever is most to 
be dreaded here. 

The city contains over sixty churches, some of which 
are fine edifices, built of stone brought from Europe. 
This could easily be done without much extra ex- 
pense, as the vessels visiting the port in those early 
days required ballast with which to cross the ocean. 
They brought no other cargo of any account, but were 



THE CATHEDRAL. 145 

sure at certain seasons of the year to obtain a suit- 
able return freight, which paid a good profit on the 
round voyage. Several of these churches are in a 
very dilapidated condition, and probably will not be 
repaired. The cathedral is one of the largest struc- 
tures of the sort in Brazil, and is thought by many to 
be one of the finest. The cathedral at Rio, however, 
is a much more elaborate structure, and far more 
costly. It takes enormous sums, wrung from the 
poorest class of people, to maintain these gorgeous tem- 
ples and support the horde of fat, licentious, useless 
priests attached to them, while the mass of humanity 
find life a daily struggle with abject want and pov- 
erty. Does any thoughtful person believe for one 
moment that such hollow service can be grateful to a 
just and merciful Supreme Being? 

Bahia was a flourishing port before Rio Janeiro was 
known commercially, and was the first place of settle- 
ment by English traders on this coast. The present 
population is of a very mixed character, composed of 
nearly all nationalities, white and black, European and 
natives. There is no prejudice evinced as regards 
color. Mulatto or negro may once have been a slave, 
but he is a freeman now, both socially and in the eyes 
of the law. He is eligible for any position of trust, 
public or private, if he develops the requisite degree 
of intelligence. Men who have been slaves in their 
youth are now filling political offices here, with credit 
to themselves and satisfaction to the public. The 
actual reform from being a degraded land of slavery 



146 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

to one of human freedom is much more radical and 
thorough in Brazil than it is in our own Southern 
States, where the pretended equality of the colored 
race is simply a burlesque upon constitutional liberty. 

The occasional use of that quaint mode of convey- 
ance, the sedan chair, was observable, taking one back 
to the days of Queen Anne. Only a few years ago it 
was the one mode of transportation from the lower to 
the upper part of the town ; but modern facilities, al- 
ready referred to, have thrown the sedan chair nearly 
out of use. A few antique representatives of this 
style of vehicle, some quite expensive and elaborately 
ornamented, are still seen obstructing the entrances 
to the houses. The local name they bear is cadeira. 
When these chairs are used, they are borne upon the 
shoulders of two or four stalwart blacks, and are hung 
upon long poles, like a palanquin, after the fashion so 
often seen in old pictures and ancient tapestry. 

We have spoken of the narrowness of the streets 
through which the tramways pass. In many places, 
pedestrians are compelled to step into the doorways of 
dwellings to permit the cars to pass them. This is 
not only the case at Bahia, but also in half the busy 
portion of South American cities. These mule pro- 
pelled cars are now adopted all over this country and 
Mexico ; even fourth class cities have tramways, and 
many towns which have not yet risen to the dignity 
of having a city organization are thus supplied with 
transportation. The Bahia tramway, on its route to 
the suburbs, passes through fertile districts of great 



FEATHER FLOWERS. 147 

rural beauty, among groves of tropical fruits, orange 
orchards, tall overshadowing mangoes, and cultivated 
flowers. There is an attempt at a public garden, 
though it is an idea only half carried out ; but there 
is a terrace in connection here called " The Bluff," 
from whence one gets a magnificent view, more espe- 
cially of the near and the distant sea. These delight- 
ful and comprehensive natural pictures are photo- 
graphed upon the memory, forming a charming cabinet 
of scenic views appertaining to each special locality, 
choice, original, and never to be effaced. 

We must not omit to mention a specialty of this 
city, an article produced in one or two of the charita- 
ble institutions, as well as in many humble family cir- 
cles, namely, artificial flowers made from the choicest 
feathers of the most brilliant colored birds. None of 
these articles are poor, while some of them are exqui- 
site in design and execution, produced entirely from 
the plumage of native birds. A considerable aggre- 
gate sum of money is realized by a certain portion 
of the community, in the regular manufacture of 
these delicate ornaments. Girls begin to learn the 
art at a very early age, and in a few years arrive at a 
marvelous degree of perfection, producing realistic 
pictures which rival the brush and pencil of a more 
pretentious department of art. Nearly all visitors 
carry away with them dainty examples of this exqui- 
site and artistic work, which has a reputation beyond 
the seas. Thousands of beautiful birds are annually 
sacrificed to furnish the necessary material. Thus 



148 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

the delicate family of the humming-bird, whose variety- 
is infinite in Brazil, has been almost exterminated in 
some parts of the country. There is one other spe- 
cialty here, namely, the manufacture of lace, which 
gives constant employment to many women of Bahia, 
their product being much esteemed all over South 
America for the beauty of the designs and the perfec- 
tion of the manufacture. 

The special fruit of this province, as already in- 
timated, is oranges, and it is safe to say that none 
produced elsewhere can excel them. They are not 
picked until they are thoroughly ripe, and are there- 
fore too delicate, in their prime condition, to sustain 
transportation to any considerable distance. Those 
sold in our northern cities are picked in a green con- 
dition and ripened off the trees, a process which does 
not injure some fruits, but which detracts very ma- 
terially from the orange and the pineapple. The 
oranges of Bahia average from five to six inches in 
diameter, have a rather thin skin, are full of juice, and 
contain no pips ; in short, they are perfectly delicious, 
being delicately sweet, with a slight subacid flavor. 
The first enjoyment of this special fruit in Bahia is a 
gastronomic revelation. The maracajus is also a fa- 
vorite fruit here, but hardly to be named beside the 
orange. It is the product of the vine which bears the 
passion flower, but this we could not relish. It is a 
common fruit in Australia and New Zealand, where 
the author found it equally unpalatable, yet people 
who have once acquired the taste become very fond 



LOCAL PRODUCTS. 149 

of it. The vine with its flower is common enough in 
the United States, but we have never seen it in a 
fruit-bearing condition in our country. 

The province of Bahia has an area of two hundred 
thousand square miles, and is represented as contain- 
ing some of the most fertile land in Brazil, capable of 
producing immense crops of several important staples. 
It is especially fertile near the coast, where there are 
some large and thriving tobacco, sugar, and coffee 
plantations. The first mentioned article, owing to 
some favorable peculiarity of the soil in this vicinity, 
is held to be nearly equal to the average Cuban pro- 
duct, and it is being more and more extensively culti- 
vated each year. Bahia cigars are not only very 
cheap, but they are remarkably fine in flavor. It was 
observed that old travelers on this coast made haste 
to lay in a goodly supply of them for personal use. 

A coffee plantation situated not far from this city 
was visited, affording a small party of strangers to 
the place much pleasure and information. The coffee 
plant is an evergreen, and thus the foliage is always 
fresh in appearance, yielding two harvests annually. 
Boa Vista, the plantation referred to t covers about 
one hundred acres, much of which is also devoted 
to the raising of fodder, fruit, corn, and beans, with 
some special vegetables, forming the principal suste- 
nance of the people and animals employed upon the 
estate. At first, in laying out such a plantation, the 
coffee sprouts are started in a nursery, and when they 
have had a year's growth are transplanted to the open 



150 EQUATORIAL AMERICA, 

field, where they are placed with strict uniformity in 
long rows at equal distances apart. After the second 
year these young plants begin to bear, and continue to 
do so for twenty-five or thirty years, at which period 
both the trees and the soil become in a measure ex- 
hausted, and a new tract of land is again selected for 
a plantation. By proper management the new planta- 
tion can be made to begin bearing at the same time 
that the old one ceases to be sufficiently productive and 
remunerative to cultivate for the same purpose. The 
coffee-tree is thought to be in its prime at from five to 
ten years of age. Fruit trees, such as bananas, oranges, 
mandioca, guavas, and so on, are planted among the cof- 
fee-trees to afford them a partial shelter, which, to a cer- 
tain degree, is requisite to their best success, especially 
when they are young and throwing out thin roots. 
The coffee bushes are kept trimmed down to about 
the height of one's head, which facilitates the harvest- 
ing of the crop, and also throws the sap into the 
formation and growth of berries. The coffee-tree, 
when permitted to grow to its natural height, reaches 
between twenty and thirty feet, and, with its deep-green 
foliage, is a handsome ornamental garden tree, much 
used for this purpose in Brazil. The coffee pods, 
when ripe, are scarlet in color, and resemble cherries, 
though they are much smaller. Each berry contains 
two seeds, which, when detached from the pod and 
properly dried, form the familiar article of such uni- 
versal domestic use. A coffee plantation well man- 
aged, in Brazil, is an almost certain source of ample 



BRAZILIAN DIAMONDS. 151 

fortune. The crop is sure ; that is to say, it has 
scarcely any drawbacks, and is always in demand. Of 
course there are inconveniences of climate, and other 
things needless to enumerate, as regards entering into 
the business, but the growth and ripening of a coffee 
crop very seldom fail. 

As has been intimated, this port is famous for the 
production of oranges and tobacco ; so Rio is famous 
for coffee, Pernambuco for sugar, and Para for crude 
india-rubber. 

We must not forget to mention one other, and 
by no means insignificant product of Brazil which is 
exported from Bahia, namely, diamonds of the very 
first quality, which for purity of color far exceed those 
of Africa and elsewhere. It appears that a syndi- 
cate in London control the world's supply of this 
peculiar gem from all the mines on the globe, per- 
mitting only a certain quantity of diamonds to go on to 
the market annually, and thus keeping up the selling 
price and the market value. No one is permitted to 
know the real product of the mines but the managers 
of this syndicate. The quantity of the sparkling 
gems which are held back by the dealers in London, 
Paris, and Vienna is really enormous ; were they to be 
placed in the retail dealers' hands as fast as they are 
produced from the various sources of supply, they 
would be erelong as cheap and plenty as moonstones. 
This sounds like an extravagant assertion, but still 
there is far more truth in it than is generally realized. 
One of the public journals of London lately spoke of 



152 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

a proposed corporation, to be known as the " Diamond 
Trust," which is certainly a significant evidence that 
the market requires to be carefully controlled as to 
the quantity which is annually put upon it. In old 
times a diamond was simply valued as a diamond ; its 
cutting and polishing were of the simplest character. 
A series of irregular plane surfaces were thought to 
sufficiently bring out its reflective qualities, but the 
stone is now treated with far more care and intelli- 
gence. A large portion of the value of a diamond 
has come to consist in the artistic, and we may say 
scientific, manner in which it is cut. By this means 
its latent qualities of reflection of light are brought 
to perfection, developing its real brilliancy. Accom- 
plished workmen realize fabulous wages in this em- 
ployment. A stone of comparatively little value, by 
being cut in the best manner, can be made to outshine 
a much finer stone which is cut after the old style. 
Amsterdam used to control the business of diamond 
cutting, but it is now as well done in Boston and 
New York as in any part of the world. 

The largest diamond yet discovered came from Bra- 
zil, and is known as the Braganza. The first Euro- 
pean expert in precious stones has valued this extraor- 
dinary gem, which is still in the rough, at three hun- 
dred million sterling ! Its actual weight is something 
over one pound troy. In the light of such a state- 
ment, we pause to ask ourselves, What is a diamond ? 
Simply carbon crystallized, that is, in its greatest 
purity, and carbon is the combustible principle of 



PREVALENCE OF EPIDEMICS. 153 

charcoal. The author was told, both here and in Rio 
Janeiro, that there is a considerable and profitable 
mining industry carried on in this country, of which 
the general public hear nothing. The results are only 
known to prominent and interested Brazilians, the 
whole matter being kept as secret as possible for com- 
mercial reasons. No one reads anything about the 
products of the diamond mines in the local papers. 

We cannot say that the city of Bahia is a very 
healthy locality, though it certainly seems that it 
ought to be, it is so admirably situated. Yellow fever 
and other epidemics prevail more or less every year. 
The lower part of the town, on the water front, is so 
shamefully filthy as to induce fever. Upon first land- 
ing, the stranger finds himself almost nauseated by the 
vile smells which greet him. This section of the town 
is also very hot, the cliff, or upper town, shutting off 
almost entirely the circulation of air. It is here that 
sailors, particularly, indulge in all sorts of excesses, 
especially in drinking the vile, raw liquor sold by ne- 
gresses, besides eating unripe and overripe fruit, thus 
inviting disease. One favorite drink produced here, 
very cheap and very potent, is a poisonous but seduc- 
tive white rum. 

The trade and people in this part of the town form 
a strange conglomerate, — monkeys, parrots, caged 
birds, tame jaguars, mongrel puppies, pineapples, 
oranges, mangoes, and bananas, these being flanked by 
vegetables and flowers. The throng is made up of 
half -naked boatmen, indolent natives from the coun- 



154 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

try, with negresses, both as venders and purchasers. 
As we look at the scene, in addition to what we have 
depicted there is a jovial group of sailors from a man- 
of-war in the harbor enjoying their shore leave, while 
not far away a small party of yachtsmen from an Eng- 
lish craft are amusing themselves with petty bargains, 
close followed by half a dozen Americans, who came 
hither in the last mail steamer. A polyglot scene of 
mixed tongues and gay colors. 

In passing into and out of the harbor of Bahia, one 
can count a dozen forts and batteries, all constructed 
after the old style, and armed in the most ineffective 
manner. These would count as nothing in a contest 
with modern ships of war having plated hulls and 
arms of precision. Land fortifications, designed to 
protect commercial ports from foreign enemies, have 
not kept pace with the progress in naval armament. 

Bahia is connected by submarine telegraph with 
Pernambuco, Para, and Rio Janeiro, and through 
them with all parts of the civilized world. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Cape Frio. — Rio Janeiro. — A Splendid Harbor. — Various Moun- 
tains. — Botafogo Bay. — The Hunchback. — Farewell to the Vi- 
gilaneia. — Tijuea. — Italian Emigrants. — City Institutions. — 
Public Amusements. — Street Musicians. — Churches. — Narrow 
Thoroughfares. — Merchants' Clerks. — Railroads in Brazil. — Nat- 
ural Advantages of the City. — The Public Plazas. — Exports. 

After a three days' voyage down the coast, be- 
tween Bahia and Rio Janeiro, the tall lighthouse of 
Cape Frio — " Cool Cape " — was sighted. This prom- 
ontory is a large oval mass of granite, sixteen hundred 
feet in height, quite isolated from other highlands, 
protruding boldly into the Atlantic Ocean. It forms 
the southeastern extremity of the coast of Brazil, and 
in clear weather can be seen, it is said, forty miles 
or more away. Here the long swell of the open sea is 
unobstructed and finds full sway, asserting its giant 
power at all seasons of the year. Experienced trav- 
elers who rarely suffer from seasickness are apt to 
succumb to this trying illness off Cape Frio. It is 
situated in latitude 22° 59' south, longitude 41° 57' 
west, which is particularly specified because the line 
of no magnetic variation touches on this cape, — that 
line which Columbus was so amazed at discovering 
one hundred leagues west of Flores, in the Azores, 
nearly four hundred years ago. We had been run- 



156 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

ning almost due south for the last eight hundred miles, 
but in doubling Cape Frio, and making for Rio harbor, 
the ship was headed to the westward, while the moun- 
tains on the coast assumed the most grotesque and 
singular shapes, the range extending from west to east 
until it ends at Cape Frio. The continent of South 
America here forms a sharp angle, but we were too 
full of expectancy as to the king of harbors towards 
which we were heading, to speculate much about Cape 
Frio and its ocean-swept surroundings. 

Rio Janeiro, the capital of Brazil, is also the lar- 
gest, if not the most important city in South America, 
situated about twelve hundred miles north of Monte- 
video and Buenos Ayres, just within the borders of 
the southern torrid zone. The distance of Bio from 
New York direct is five thousand miles, but most voy- 
agers, on the way through the West Indies, stop at 
three or four of these islands, and also at some of the 
northern ports of the continent of South America, the 
same as in our own case, so that about five hundred 
miles may be fairly added to the distance we have just 
named. Though the vessel was a month in making 
the voyage to this port, had we sailed direct it might 
have been done in two thirds of the time. 

After doubling the cape and sailing some sixty or 
eighty miles, we steered boldly towards the mouth of 
the harbor of Rio. For a few moments the ship's 
prow pointed towards Raza Island, on which stands 
the lighthouse, but a slight turn of the wheel soon 
changed its relative position, and we entered the pas- 



HARBOR OF RIO JANEIRO. 157 

sage leading into the bay. After passing the " Sugar 
Loaf," a rock twelve hundred feet in height, the city 
lay off our port bow. All is so well defined, the 
water is so deep and free from obstructions of any 
sort, that no pilot is required and none is taken, and 
thus we crept slowly up towards our moorings. As 
the reader may well suppose, to eyes weary of the mo- 
notony of the sea, the panorama which opened before 
us was one of intense interest. Everything seemed 
matured and olden. There was no sign of newness; 
indeed, we recalled the fact that Rio was an established 
commercial port half a century before New York had 
a local habitation or a name. The town lies on the 
west side of the port, between a mountain range and 
the bay, running back less than two miles in depth, 
but extending along the shore for a distance of some 
eight miles, fronting one of the finest and most spa- 
cious harbors in the world, famous for its manifold 
scenic beauties, which, from the moment of passing 
within the narrow entrance, are ever changing and 
ever lovely. The most prominent features are the 
verdure-clad hills of Gloria, Theresa, and Castello, 
behind which extend ranges of steep, everlasting 
mountains, one line beyond another, until lost among 
the clouds. Few natural spectacles can equal the 
grand contour of this famous bay. People who have 
visited it always speak in superlative language of 
Rio harbor, but we hardly think it could be over- 
praised. It is the grand entrance to a tropical par- 
adise, so far as nature is concerned, amid clustering 



158 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

mountains, abrupt headlands, inviting inlets, and 
beautiful islands, covered with palms, tree-ferns, 
bananas, acacias, and other delights of tropical vege- 
tation, which, when seen depicted in books, impress 
one as an exaggeration, but seen here thrill us with 
vivid reality. It is only in the torrid zone that one 
sees these lavish developments of verdure, these laby- 
rinths of charming arboreous effect. 

Though so well known and so often written about, 
the harbor of Rio is less famous than beautiful. The 
bay is said to contain about one hundred islands, its 
area extending inland some seventeen or eighteen 
miles. The largest of these is Governor's Island, 
nearly fronting the city, being six miles long. Some 
idea of the extent of the bay may be had from the 
fact that there are fifty square miles of good anchorage 
for ships within its compass. Into the bay flows the 
water of two inconsiderable rivers, the Macacu and 
the Iguacu, the first named coming in at the north- 
east and the latter at the northwest corner of the 
harbor. 

The Organ Mountains, — Serra dos Orgaos, — 
capped with soft, fleecy clouds, formed the lofty back- 
ground of the picture towards the north, as we entered 
upon the scene, the immediate surroundings being 
dominated by the sky -reaching Sugar Loaf Rock, — 
Pao d'Assucar, — which is also the navigator's guid- 
ing mark while yet far away at sea. This bold, irreg- 
ular rock of red sandstone rises abruptly from the 
water, like a giant standing waist-high in the sea, and 



THE ORGAN MOUNTAINS. 159 

forms the western boundary of the entrance to the 
harbor, opposite to which, crowning a small but bold 
promontory, is the fort of Santa Cruz, the two high- 
lands forming an appropriate portal to the grandeur 
which is to greet one within. The distance between 
these bounds is about a mile, inside of which the 
water widens at once to lake-like proportions. 
Clouds of frigate birds, gulls, and gannets fly grace- 
fully about each incoming ship, as if to welcome them 
to the harbor where anchorage might be had for the 
combined shipping of the whole world. We have 
lately seen the harbor of Rio compared to that of 
Queenstown, on the Irish coast, twenty times magni- 
fied; but the infinite superiority of the former in every 
respect makes the allusion quite pointless. 

The Organ Mountains, to which we have referred, 
and which form so conspicuous a portion of the scene 
in and about Rio, are so called because of their fan- 
cied resemblance in shape to the pipes of an organ ; but 
though blessed with the usual share of imagination, 
we were quite unable to trace any such resemblance. 
However, one must not be hypercritical. The gigan- 
tic recumbent form of a human being, so often spoken 
of as discernible along this mountain range, is no po- 
etical fancy, but is certainly clear enough to any eye, 
recalling the likeness to a crouching lion outlined 
by the promontory of Gibraltar as one first sees the 
rock, either on entering the strait or coming from 
Malta. 

One of the most beautiful indentures of the shore, 



160 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

earliest to catch the eye after passing into the harbor 
of Rio from the sea, is called the Bay of Botafogo. 
The word means "thrown into the fire," and alludes 
to the inhuman autos-da-fe which occurred here when 
the natives, on refusing to subscribe to the Roman 
Catholic faith, were committed by the priests to the 
flames ! This is the way in which the Romish creed 
was introduced into Mexico and South America, and 
the means by which it was sustained. 

The principal charm of this lovely bay within a 
bay — Botafogo — is its flowers and exposition of 
soaring royal palms. The attractiveness of the hand- 
some residences is quite secondary to that of nature, 
here revealed with a lavish profusion. This part of 
Rio is overshadowed by the tall peak of the Corco- 
vado, "the Hunchback," one of the mass of hills 
which occupy a large area west of the city, and the 
nearest mountain to it. From its never-failing springs 
comes a large share of the water supply of the capital. 
The aqueduct is some ten miles long, crossing a valley 
at one point seven hundred feet in width, at a height 
of ninety feet, upon double arches. Another large 
aqueduct is in contemplation, besides which some other 
sources are now in actual operation, as Rio has long 
since outgrown the capacity of the original supply de- 
rived from the Corcovado. The drainage of the town 
suffers seriously for want of sufficient water where- 
with to flush the conduits, which at this writing, with 
the deadly fever claiming victims on all hands, are 
permitted to remain in a stagnant condition! And 



LANDING AT RIO JANEIRO. 161 

yet there are hundreds of hills round about, within 
long cannon range, which would readily yield the re- 
quired element in almost limitless quantity. 

We left the Vigilancia, and our good friend Cap- 
tain Baker, with regret. The noble ship had borne 
us in safety thousands of miles during the past month, 
through storms and calms, amid intense tropical heat, 
and such floods of rain as are only encountered in 
southern seas. Watching from her deck, there had 
been revealed to us the glories of the changing lati- 
tudes, and particularly the grandeur of the radiant 
heavens in equatorial regions. A sense of all-ab- 
sorbing curiosity prevailed as we landed at the stone 
steps, overlooked by the yellow-ochre walls of the 
arsenal, in the picturesque, though pestilential city. 
The nauseous odors which greet one as he steps on 
shore are very discordant elements in connection with 
the intense interest created by the novel sights that 
engage the eye of a stranger. 

With a population, including the immediate sub- 
urbs, of over half a million, — estimated at six hun- 
dred and fifty thousand, — Rio has most of the belong- 
ings of a North American city of the first class, 
though we cannot refrain from mentioning one re- 
markable exception, namely, the entire absence of good 
hotels. There is not a really good and comfortable 
public house in all Brazil. Those which do exist in 
Rio charge exorbitantly for the most indifferent ser- 
vice, and strangers are often puzzled to find a sleep- 
ing-room for a single night on first arriving here. 



162 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

Tijuca, situated in the hills a few miles from the city, 
is perhaps the most desirable place of temporary so- 
journ for the newly arrived traveler, who will find at 
least one large and comfortable public house there, fa- 
vorably known to travelers as Whyte's Hotel. It is 
some little distance from the city, but is easily reached 
by tramway, which takes one to the foot of the hills 
of the Tijuca range, whose tallest peak is thirty -four 
hundred feet above tide-water. This place abounds 
in attractive villas, tropical vegetation, and beautiful 
flowers, both wild and cultivated. From here also 
one gets a most charming view of the distant city, the 
famous bay, and the broad Atlantic ; indeed, the view 
alone will repay one for making this brief excursion. 
The loftiest village in these hills is called Boa Vista. 
There are mountains, however, on either side, which 
are five or six hundred feet higher than the village 
containing the hotel. American enterprise is en- 
gaged at this writing in constructing a narrow gauge 
electric tramway to the summit of Tijuca. The driv- 
ing road from the base to the top is an admirable piece 
of engineering, and is kept in the very best condition 
possible. 

The objectionable character of the Italian emigrants, 
who come hither as well as to our own States, was 
demonstrated by a party of them robbing and nearly 
murdering a resident of Tijuca who happened to be a 
short distance from his own house, the evening pre- 
vious to the day which we spent at this resort. These 
Italians are mostly employed as workmen upon the 



PUBLIC EDIFICES. 163 

railroad, though some are gardeners on the neighbor- 
ing estates. In town they act as porters and day- 
laborers on the wharves, as boatmen, and so on, but, 
as we were assured, are a lawless, vagabond element 
of the community, giving the police force a great deal 
of trouble. 

Rio has many large and commodious public build- 
ings and some elegant private residences, the latter 
generally of a half Moorish type of architecture. 
Some of the edifices date back a couple of centuries. 
The early Portuguese built of stone and cement, 
hence the somewhat remarkable durability of these 
houses. The large edifice devoted to the department 
of agriculture and public works is one of the most 
noticeable in the city. The Bank of Brazil occupies 
a building which is classic in its fine architecture, 
being elaborately constructed of hammered granite. 
There is no more superb example of masonry in the 
country. The National Mint, on the Square of the 
Republic, is also a fine granite building; so is that 
devoted to the Bourse, where enormous values change 
hands daily. Educational institutions are numerous, 
well organized, and generally availed of by the rising 
generation. The National College is of notable in- 
fluence in the dissemination of general intelligence, 
and the same may be said of the Polytechnic College, 
an excellent and practical institution. It should be 
observed that any well-organized educational estab- 
lishment is called a college in this country. 

The public library of Rio contains some two hun- 



164 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

dred thousand volumes, besides many valuable Spanish 
and Portuguese documents in manuscript. It is lib- 
erally conducted; black and white people alike, as 
well as all respectable strangers, have free access and 
liberal accommodations within the walls. This insti- 
tution is an honor to Brazil. 

Rio has a new and well organized navy yard, a 
large arsenal, cotton mills, and several extensive man- 
ufacturing establishments. Among the latter is the 
largest flour mill we have ever seen. This is an Eng- 
lish enterprise ; but so far as we could learn, it had 
been found impossible to compete profitably with the 
American flour, as now landed at Rio. A foundling 
hospital on the Rua Everesta de Veiga is worthy of 
mention. Here, as already described in relation to 
another Brazilian city, infants are freely received 
and cared for, without any inquiry being made of 
those who deposit them. These little ones at the out- 
set become children of the state, and are registered 
and numbered as such. Oftentimes the mother pins to 
the little deserted one's clothes the name she desires 
should be given to it, and the wish is usually regarded 
by the officials of the institution. The authorities 
put each child out to nurse for a year, but receive 
it back again at the expiration of that time, and 
at a proper period send it to school, and endeavor to 
rear it to some useful employment or trade. While 
the child is thus disposed of, the payment for its 
board and care is very moderate in amount, and is 
also contingent upon its good health and physical 



PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS. 165 

condition. Thus the deserted one is likely to have 
good attention, if not for humanity's sake, then from 
mercenary motives. This plan is copied from that 
which is pursued by the great foundling hospitals of 
St. Petersburg and Moscow, which are certainly the 
best organized and largest institutions of the sort in 
the world. Where so large a percentage of the chil- 
dren born are illegitimate, such a hospital becomes a 
real necessity. There has been no year since this es- 
tablishment was opened, in 1738, as we were told, in 
which less than four hundred infants were received. 
Sometimes parents, whose worldly conditions have 
greatly improved, come forward after the lapse of 
years and claim their children. This right on their 
part is duly respected by their properly proving the 
relationship beyond all possible doubt, and paying a 
sum of money equal to that which has been actually 
expended by the state in the child's behalf. 

In the line of public amusements there is a large 
and well appointed opera house besides eight other 
fairly good theatres, together with an excellent mu- 
seum. The performances at the theatres are given in 
French, Spanish, and Portuguese. Italian opera is 
presented three times a week during the season. This 
year the performances were summarily stopped by the 
principal tenor dying of yellow fever. The theatre 
bearing the name of the late emperor is a sort of 
mammoth cave in size, and is capable of seating six 
thousand people, not one half of whom can hear what 
is said or sung upon the stage by the performers. 



166 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

Street bands of German musicians perform here as 
they do in Boston and New York; the mass of the 
people, being music loving, patronize these itinerants 
liberally. One band posted themselves daily before 
the popular Globe Restaurant, at the hour of the mid- 
day meal (breakfast), and performed admirably, reap- 
ing a generous response from the habitues. Most of 
the patrons of this excellent establishment were ob- 
served to be American, English, and Trench mer- 
chants, who attended to business in Rio during the 
day, but who went home to the elevated environs to 
dine and to sleep. "I have been here in business 
nine years," said one of these gentlemen to us, "and 
have been down with the fever once ; but I would not 
sleep in Rio overnight for any amount of money, at 
this season of the year." This was early in June. 
He added : " The fever should have disappeared before 
this time, which is our winter, but it seems to linger 
later and later each succeeding year." This was a 
conclusion which we heard expressed by other obser- 
vant individuals, but all joined in ascribing its per- 
sistency in no small degree to the imperfect drainage, 
and the vile personal habits of the mass of the common 
people, who make no effort to be cleanly, or to regard 
the decencies of life in this respect. 

As to churches, Rio has between sixty and seventy, 
none of which are very remarkable, all being dim, 
dirty, and offensive to the olfactories. The cause of 
the foul air being so noticeable in all of these Romish 
churches is the fact that no provision whatever is 



THE CATHEDRAL. 167 

made for proper ventilation, and this, too, in places 
of all others where it is most imperatively necessary. 
The offense is created by exhalations from the bodies 
of the least cleanly class of the population. It is such 
who mostly fill these churches all over the continent 
of Europe, Mexico, South America, and the United 
States. Precisely the same disgusting odor greets 
the senses of the visitor to these edifices, be it in one 
hemisphere or another, but especially in Italy and 
Spain. * 

The cathedral of Rio is a large, showy edifice, sur- 
rounded by narrow streets, and thus hidden by other 
buildings, so that no general and satisfactory outside 
effect can be had. The front and sides are of solid 
granite, and the whole is known to have cost a mint of 
money, yet the safety of the foundation is more than 
questionable. Like the grand church of St. Isaacs, 
in the Russian capital of St. Petersburg, great expense 
will doubtless have to be incurred to renew and 
strengthen it in this respect. It is believed that the 
site upon which Rio stands was once under the sea, 
and, geologically speaking, at no very remote period, 
which accounts for considerable trouble being expe- 
rienced in obtaining secure and solid foundations for 
any heavy superstructure. At this writing, the cathe- 
dral is undergoing extensive repairs, inside and out, 
but in spite of the noise of workmen, the disagreeable 
lime dust, and the interference of a network of in- 
terior staging, it is still very striking in its archi- 
tectural effect. 



168 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

In the old part of the town, two prominent cupolas 
dominate the surroundings. These belong respec- 
tively to the churches of Candelaria and San Luigi. 
The most popular church in Kio is undoubtedly that 
which crowns the Gloria Hill, called the Igreja da 
Gloria do Onterio, which overlooks the bay. Its 
commanding situation is very remarkable. In shape 
it is octagonal, and seems to be very solidly built. 
In front of the church there is a broad terrace, from 
whence a fine View may be enjoyed. On a moon- 
light night the picture presented from the Gloria Hill 
is something worth going miles on foot to behold. 
This church was the favorite resort of the late royal 
family when they were in the city, though much of 
their home life and all of their summers were passed 
in the hills of the Organ Mountains at the emperor's 
favorite resort, — Petropolis. 

The shops of Rio, notwithstanding they are gener- 
ally small and situated upon streets so narrow that 
they would be called only lanes in North America, — 
close, confined, half - strangled thoroughfares, — will 
compare favorably in many respects with those of con- 
tinental Europe. The larger number of the merchants 
here are French, together with a considerable sprin- 
kling of German Jews. Indeed, can any one tell us 
where we shall not find this peculiar race represented 
in the trade centres of the wide world? In many of 
the fancy goods stores the famous Brazilian feather 
flowers are exhibited for sale, but the best place to 
purchase these is at Bahia, where they are a specialty, 



MERCHANTS' CLERKS. 169 

and where their manufacture is said to have origi- 
nated. The narrow streets, traversed by tramways, 
are at times almost impassable for pedestrians, and 
are often blocked by heavy mule teams for fifteen 
minutes at a time. By and by some lazy policeman 
makes his appearance and quietly begins to unravel 
the snarl, which he at length succeeds in doing, and 
the ordinary traffic of the thoroughfare is once more 
resumed. An unsightly gutter runs through the 
middle of some of these thoroughfares, which adds 
to the annoyances incident to ordinary travel. All 
are regularly laid out, chess-board fashion, very ill 
smelling, and harbor an infinite number of beggars 
and mangy dogs. 

It is customary for local merchants who employ Eu- 
ropean clerks — and there are many English, French, 
and Brazilians in Rio who do so, — to give them a 
fixed salary, quite moderate in amount, and to fur- 
nish them with lodgings also. The latter are of a very 
rude and undesirable character, in the business estab- 
lishment itself, either over the store, or in the back 
part of it. The bedding which is furnished is of a 
makeshift character, rarely changed, and never prop- 
erly aired. Exceedingly uncleanly domestic arrange- 
ments, or the entire absence of them, are also a serious 
matter in this connection, from a sanitary point of 
view. The clerks get their food at some neighboring 
restaurant, and contract irregular habits, all of which 
is both mentally and physically demoralizing. It is 
among this class of foreigners that the yellow fever 



170 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

finds the most ready victims. To sleep in these 
crowded business centres, in ill-ventilated apartments, 
with far from cleanly surroundings, is simply to pro- 
voke fatal illness, and during an epidemic of fever 
these places furnish fuel for the flames. Neatness 
and cleanliness among domestic associations in this 
city are entirely lost sight of and are totally disre- 
garded by men and women. 

The Rua Direita is the State Street or Wall Street 
of Rio; a new name, which escapes us at this mo- 
ment, has been given to it, but the old one is still the 
favorite and in common use. Here brokers, bankers, 
and commission merchants meet and bargain, and 
fiercely speculate in coffee. The principal shopping 
street is the Rua de Ouvidor, where the best stores 
and choicest retail goods are to be found. In the Rua 
dos Ourives, — " Goldsmith's Street," — the display of 
fine jewelry, diamonds, and other precious stones re- 
calls the Rue de la Paix of Paris. Diamonds are held 
at quite as high prices as in London or New York, 
and those of the best quality can be bought better at 
retail out of this country than in it. A poor quality 
of stone, off color, is imported and offered here as 
being of native production, and careless purchasers 
are not infrequently deceived by cunning dealers in 
these matters. 

Two vehicles cannot pass each other in this avenue 
without driving upon the narrow sidewalk. At times 
a deafening uproar prevails along these circumscribed 
lanes. The rough grinding of wheels, noisy bootblacks, 



LOCAL FASHIONS OF DRESS. 171 

whooping orange-sellers, screaming newspaper boys, 
howling dogs, the rattle of the street peddler, lottery 
ticket venders, fighting street gamins, all join to swell 
the mingled chorus. And yet these crowded thorough- 
fares would lose half of their picturesqueness were 
these elements to be banished from them. They each 
and all add a certain crude element of interest to this 
every-day picture of Vanity Fair. 

In their ambition to copy European and North 
American fashions, the gentlemen of Rio utterly dis- 
regard the eternal fitness of things, wearing broad- 
cloth suits of black, with tall, stovepipe hats, neither 
of which articles should be adopted for a moment in 
their torrid climate. Nothing could be more inap- 
propriate. Linen clothing and light straw hats are 
the true costume for the tropics, naturally suggesting 
themselves in hot climates to the exclusion of woolen, 
heat-brewing costumes, which are necessary articles of 
wear in the north. Fashion, however, ignores climate 
and is omnipotent everywhere ; comfort is subsidiary. 
Wear woolen clothing by all means, gentlemen of Rio, 
even when the thermometer hangs persistently at 
95° Fahr. in the shade, and the human body perspires 
like a mountain stream. 

The tramway system of Rio is excellent in a crude 
way. Statistics show that fifty million passengers are 
annually transported by this popular means from one 
part of the city to another, and into the suburbs. 
The street railway was first introduced here by North 
American enterprise, the pioneer route being that be- 



172 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

tween the city proper and the botanical garden. The 
prices of passage vary according to distances, as is the 
case with the London omnibuses. The cars are all 
open ones, of cheap, coarse construction, and far from 
inviting in appearance, being entirely unupholstered, 
and affording only hard board seats for passengers 
to sit upon. They are usually drawn by one small 
donkey, whose strength is quite overtasked, but the 
ground in the city is so nearly level that the cars 
move very easily and rapidly. 

There is one delightful excursion from Rio which 
nearly all strangers are sure to enjoy. We refer to 
the ascent of Corcovado, the mountain which looms 
over Botafogo Bay to the height of twenty -two hun- 
dred feet, and to the summit of which a railway has 
been constructed. The grades are extremely steep, and 
the road is what is called a centre line, worked upon 
the cog-wheel system, the ascent being very slow and 
winding. The principle is the same as that of the 
railway by which Mount Washington is ascended, in 
New Hampshire, or the Righi, in Switzerland. This 
road was built by the national government, but as a 
pecuniary speculation it does not pay, though it is of 
considerable indirect benefit to the city. We will not 
dilate upon the grand outlook to be had from the sum- 
mit of the Hunchback, which takes in a bird's-eye 
view of the harbor and its surroundings, but will add 
that no one should come hither without ascending 
Corcovado. The top consists of two rounded masses 
of bare rock, and is walled in to prevent accident, 



NICTHEROY. 173 

there being on one side a perpendicular descent of a 
thousand feet. It gives one at first a dizzy sensa- 
tion to look down upon the vast city spread out over 
the plain, from whence a hum of mingled sounds 
comes up with singular distinctness. Even the bells 
upon the mules which are attached to the tram-cars 
can be distinguished, and other sounds still more del- 
icate and minute. Just so balloonists tell us that 
at two or three thousand feet in mid-air they can 
distinguish the voices of individuals upon the earth 
below them. The experienced traveler learns to be 
astonished at nothing, but there are degrees of plea- 
sure induced by beautiful and majestic views which 
mount to the apex of our capacity for admiration. 
One can safely promise such a realizing sense to him 
who ascends the Corcovado. 

A tramway which starts from the centre of the city 
will take the traveler to the base of the hill, through 
roads lined by palms of great age and beauty, finally 
leaving him near the point from whence the steam 
road begins the upward journey. 

Nictheroy, just across the harbor of Rio, on the 
east side of the bay, is a sort of faubourg of the cap- 
ital, with which it is connected by a line of steam fer- 
rj r -boats, as Chelsea is with Boston, or Brooklyn with 
the city of New York. It is the capital of the prov- 
ince of Rio Janeiro, and has broader streets, is more 
reasonably laid out, and is kept more cleanly than Rio 
itself. Space is found for a profusion of attractive 
gardens, and the senses are greeted by sweet odors in 



174 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

the place of needlessly offensive smells, which attack 
one on all sides in the metropolis so near at hand. It 
is quite a relief to get on to one of the ferry-boats 
and cross over to Nictheroy occasionally, for a breath 
of pure air. This is the native Indian name of the 
place, and signifies "hidden water," particularly ap- 
plicable when these land-locked bays were shrouded 
in dense tropical woods. 

Unlike Para, Montevideo, and Buenos Ayres, this 
city has no special river communication with the 
interior, but her commerce is large and increasing. 
Railroads are more reliable feeders for business than 
either rivers or canals. It is a fact which is not 
generally realized, that Brazil has over six thousand 
miles of well-constructed railways in operation, besides 
having a telegraph system covering seven thousand 
miles of land service. In the construction of the rail- 
roads, the cost, so far as the ground work and grading 
was concerned, was reduced to the minimum, owing 
to the level nature of the country. As was the case 
in New Zealand, many of these railways were con- 
structed at great expense, in anticipation of the wants 
of a future population, who it was hoped would settle 
rapidly upon the route which they followed. That 
is to say, many of these roads did not open commu- 
nication between populous districts already in exist- 
ence. This would have been perfectly legitimate. 
They run to no particular objective point, and seem 
to stop finally nowhere. The natural sequence fol- 
lowed. After being built and equipped with bor- 



TRA NSPOR TA TION. 175 

rowed money, they were anything but self-supporting, 
and pecuniary aid from the government was freely 
given to enable them to be kept in operation. 

There must always come a day of reckoning for all 
such forced schemes, and the Brazilian railways were 
no exception to the rule. This is largely the primary 
cause of the present monetary troubles in this coun- 
try, as well as in the Argentine Republic. The capi- 
tal for the construction of these roads came mostly 
from England, and that country has been accordingly 
a heavy pecuniary sufferer. The rates charged for 
transportation upon most of the lines are also exor- 
bitant, if we were rightly informed; so much so, in 
fact, as to prove nearly prohibitory. Scarcely any 
species of merchandise brought from a considerable 
distance inland will bear such freight charges and 
leave a margin for profit to the producer and shipper. 
Would-be planters of coffee and sugar-cane dare not 
enter upon raising these staples for the market, unless 
situated very near the shipping point, or near some 
available river's course, the latter means being natu- 
rally much cheaper than any form of railway transpor- 
tation. 

Situated on the border of two zones, Rio Janeiro 
has the products of both within her reach, and thus 
possesses peculiar advantages for extensive trade and 
general commerce. It is in this latter direction that 
her progressive and enterprising merchants are en- 
deavoring to extend the facilities of the port. The 
passenger landings — not wharves — which border the 



176 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

water front of the city here and there are of solid 
granite, from which at suitable intervals broad stone 
steps lead down to the water's edge, as on the borders 
of the Neva at St. Petersburg. We have few, if any, 
such substantial landing-places in our North Ameri- 
can ports. We know of no harbor on the globe which 
enjoys a more eligible situation as regards the com- 
merce of foreign countries, both of the New and the 
Old World. The one convenience so imperatively de- 
manded is proper wharves for the landing and ship- 
ping of cargoes, thus obviating the necessity of the ex- 
pensive and tedious lighter system. It is her many 
natural and extraordinary advantages which has led 
to so steady a growth of the city, notwithstanding the 
very serious drawback of an unwholesome climate, ag- 
gravated by the indolence and incapacity of the local 
authorities in sanitary matters. Both consumption 
and yellow fever have proved more fatal here than at 
any other port in South America, so far as we could 
draw comparisons. 

The well-equipped marine arsenal of Rio is of con- 
siderable interest and importance, as there is no other 
port on the Atlantic coast, between the Gulf of Mex- 
ico and Cape Horn, where a large modern vessel can 
go into dry dock for needed repairs. This receptacle 
is ample in size, and is substantially built of granite. 
Such an establishment as a national shipyard is a 
prime necessity to a commercial country like Brazil, 
which has eleven hundred leagues of seacoast. 

In the Plaza Constitution, which is a very grand 



PUBLIC LOTTERIES. Ill 

and spacious park in the heart of the city, there is an 
elaborate and costly statue of the father of the late 
emperor, of heroic size. The pedestal is surrounded 
by four bronze groups, representing typical scenes of 
early Indian life in this country. The Paseo Publico 
is also a garden-like spot, extending three or four hun- 
dred feet along the bay. This is a cool and favorite 
resort of the populace. On the corners of the prin- 
cipal streets and squares there are little octagonal 
structures called kiosks, gayly painted, where hot 
coffee, lottery tickets, and bonbons are sold, as well 
as newspapers and flowers. Here, as in Havana, the 
city of Mexico, Naples, and many European cities, the 
lottery proves to be a terrible curse to the common 
people, draining their pockets and diverting them from 
all ideas of steady-going business. It is customary 
also for the regularly organized business establish- 
ments to patronize the lottery with never failing regu- 
larity, charging a certain monthly sum to expense 
account, but the money is nevertheless paid out for 
lottery tickets. The bad moral effect of this upon 
clerks and all concerned is very obvious. When by 
chance any prize, be it never so small, is awarded, a 
great flurry is made of the fact, and advertisements 
emphasize it, thus to incite fresh investments in this 
organized public swindle. Tickets are sold by boys 
and girls, men and women, and half the talk of the 
thoughtless multitude is about the lottery, how to hit 
upon lucky numbers, and so on. 

It is a mistaken though popular idea that our New 



178 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

England consumptives have only to seek some tropical 
locality to alleviate their special trouble. Rio seems 
to be particularly fatal to persons suffering from pul- 
monary troubles. The same may be said of many 
other tropical regions. When consumption is devel- 
oped in the Bahamas, Cuba, or the Sandwich Is- 
lands, for instance, it runs its fatal course with a speed 
never realized in the Northern States of America. 
Physicians do not send patients to foreign localities 
so indiscriminately as they used to. Almost every 
sort of climate is to be found within the borders of 
the United States, where also civilized comforts are 
more universally to be obtained than abroad. Besides 
which, an invalid does not have to brave seasickness 
and other ocean hardships, if sent to some eligible 
locality within our own borders. 

Though Brazil has long been, and is still, famous 
for its production of diamonds, precious stones, and 
gold, yet these are as nothing when compared with her 
exports of sugar, coffee, and hides, not taking into 
account her product of rice, cocoa, tobacco, dyewoods, 
and other important staples. A large portion of the 
abnormal growth of her forests is valuable for its tim- 
ber, resins, fibre, and fruits. It is naturally a very 
rich country, with a world of wealth in its soil, but 
miserable financial mismanagement has caused the 
national treasury to become utterly bankrupt, and at 
this writing mercantile credit is an unknown quan- 
tity, so to speak. The natural resources of the coun- 
try are unlimited ; therefore it must be only a question 



SIZE OF BRAZIL. 179 

of time when a healthy reaction shall set in, and a 
period of sound prosperity follow. 

It should be remembered in this connection that the 
immediate country of which we are speaking, that is, 
Brazil as a whole, is as large as the United States, 
leaving out the territory of Alaska. 



CHAPTEE IX. 

Outdoor Scenes in Rio Janeiro. — The Little Marmoset. — The Fish 
Market. — Secluded Women. — The Roniish Church. — Botanical 
Garden. — Various Species of Trees. — Grand Avenue of Royal 
Palms. — About Humming-Birds. — Climate of Rio. — Surrounded 
by Yellow Fever. — The Country Inland. — Begging on the Streets. 
— Flowers. — " Portuguese Joe. ' ' — Social Distinctions. 

It would require many pages to properly describe 
Rio Janeiro with its curious phases of street life, its 
manners and customs, its local peculiarities, and 
moving panorama of events, all combining to make up 
a unique personality. These out-of-door scenes go 
far to tell the true story of any special locality. The 
fruit and vegetable market, near Palace Square, is a 
highly attractive place to visit at early morning. The 
negro women venders, always stout and portly crea- 
tures, with heads turbaned in many-colored bandannas, 
are eloquent in recommending their articles for sale, 
and are also very shrewd at a bargain. It is not un- 
common for these middle-aged negresses to stand six 
feet high, without shoes or stockings, and to turn the 
scales at double the average weight of men of the same 
color and class. These women were all slaves in their 
girlhood. As regards prices charged for provisions, 
fruits, and vegetables, in the markets of Rio, they 
seemed to the author rather exorbitant, but doubtless 



MARKET SCENES. 181 

permanent residents do not pay such sums as are 
charged to strangers for the same articles. We were 
heartily laughed at by a housekeeper on stating the 
cost of a small basket of choice fruit which we had 
purchased, being told that we had paid four times its 
market value. However, it was well worth the price 
to us, who had just arrived from an ocean voyage of 
five thousand miles and more. On shipboard fruit is 
necessarily a scarce article, and it was certainly worth 
something extra to be introduced for the first time to 
the luscious products of this region. 

The abundance and variety of flowers, as well as 
their cheapness and fragrance, make them a desirable 
morning purchase, with all their dewy freshness upon 
them. Oranges, limes, pineapples, lemons, alligator- 
pears, cocoanuts, grapes, mangoes, with an infinite 
variety of other fruits, make up the stock in trade, 
together with squealing pigs, live turkeys, and noisy 
guinea-fowls. Here also are various gaudy feathered 
songsters, in cheap, home-made cages, besides mon- 
keys, marmosets, and other household pets. The 
macaws, chained by the leg, and the screaming par- 
rots vie with each other and with the monkeys in the 
amount of noise they make. Wicker baskets filled 
with live ducks, geese, and fowls are borne on the 
heads of native women, who have brought them many 
a long weary mile from far inland, hoping to make a 
few pennies by their sale. The chatter of the women, 
the cries of men and animals, an occasional quarrel 
between two noisy Italians, ending in furious vocifer- 



182 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

ations and gesticulations, all add to the Babel of sound. 
One little marmoset put his hand into that of the au- 
thor, looking so appealingly into his face that, ima- 
gining the little fellow might be hungry, some nice 
edibles, calculated to rejoice the monkey heart, were 
promptly purchased and gratefully received by the 
marmoset, which, in his eager haste to consume the 
same, stuffed the sides of either jaw to alarming pro- 
portions. The little creature was wonderfully hu- 
man, and having found a kindly disposed stranger, 
insisted upon keeping one of his tiny hands in our 
own, while he rapidly filled his mouth with the 
other. 

It is interesting to observe the artistic manner in 
which the native women, Indians and blacks, mingle 
and arrange the various fruits and vegetables, show- 
ing a natural instinct for the harmonious blending of 
colors and forms. A pile of yellow oranges, green 
limes, and mangoes had a base of buff-colored bananas 
picturesquely arranged with all the pointed ends of 
the finger-like fruit outward, while a luscious ripe 
pineapple formed the apex of the pile, set off jauntily 
by its cactus-like, prickly leaves. On the borders of 
the market and along the iron railing of Palace 
Square, black -haired, bareheaded Italian women dis- 
played cheap jewelry, imitation shell, gilded combs, 
and other fancy trinkets for sale, embracing priestly 
knick-knacks, ivory crosses, crucifixion scenes, coral 
beads, high-colored ribbons, and gaudy kerchiefs. 
The bronzed faces of these black-eyed, gypsy-like 



THE FISH MARKET. 183 

women were very cadaverous, as though the land of 
their adoption did not particularly agree with them. It 
seems hardly possible that these peddlers could gain a 
livelihood trading in these tawdry and utterly useless 
articles among such a humble, impecunious class of 
customers as frequent the market, and yet their nu- 
merous wide-open, shallow tin boxes showed a consid- 
erable stock of goods. 

The fish market is a curious sight in the variety of 
colors and shapes afforded by the inhabitants of the 
neighboring bay, where most of them are caught. 
What an array of finny monsters ! — rock -fish, large 
as halibut, ray, skates, craw-fish, cuttle-fish, and 
prawns half as large as lobsters, together with devil-fish 
and oysters. Funny idea, but these oysters, many of 
them, are grown on trees ! How is this possible ? Let 
us tell you. The mangrove trees line the water's edge ; 
many of the branches overhang the sea, and are sub- 
merged therein. To these young oysters affix them- 
selves, and there they live and thrive. The same 
phenomenon was observed by the author some years 
ago in Cuba. These oysters are found in small cor- 
rugated shells scarcely larger than a good-sized Eng- 
lish walnut, which they somewhat resemble. 

In the fish market one sees some very original char- 
acters among the negro women who preside over the 
finny tribe. They are large, good-natured creatures, 
quick at a trade, and quite intelligent. We recall one, 
who was a prominent figure among her companions. 
She was tall, portly, and strong as a horse. Her head 



184 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

was decked with a bandanna kerchief of many colors, 
her flat nose and protruding lips indicating close 
African relationship. Secured behind one of her ears 
was a cigarette, while a friction match protruded from 
the other, ready for use. Her coarse calico dress, of 
deep red, was covered in front by a brown linen apron 
extending nearly to her bare feet. Her uncovered 
arms were about as large as a man's legs. This 
negress dressed the several kinds of fish with the facil- 
ity of an expert, making change for her patrons with 
commendable promptness, and dismissing them with 
a good-natured smile, adding some remark which was 
pretty sure to elicit hearty laughter. 

As we stood viewing these things, a noisy fellow 
made himself very obnoxious to every person whom he 
met. He had evidently been too often to the neigh- 
boring spirit-shops. A police officer arrested the man 
by touching him lightly on the shoulder and saying a 
few words to him ; then, pointing ahead, made the fel- 
low precede him to the lock-up. Though this disturber 
of the peace was half drunk, he knew too much to resist 
an officer, which is considered to be a heinous offense 
and is severely punished in Rio. It was natural to 
contrast this scene with the violent resistance offered 
by offenders with whom the police of New York and 
Boston have often to deal. 

The streets of Rio, at all times of the day, present a 
motley crowd of half -naked negroes, overladen don- 
keys, lazy Portuguese, Italian, and Spanish loafers, 
smoking cheap cigars, with here and there a Jew hawk- 



STREET AND SOCIAL LIFE. 185 

ing articles of personal wear, women with various heavy- 
articles upon their heads, water carriers, vociferous 
sellers of confectionery, all moving hither and thither, 
each one intent upon his or her individual inter- 
est and oblivious of all others. The background to 
this kaleidoscopic picture is the low, stucco-finished 
houses, painted in lively red, yellow, or blue, inter- 
spersed here and there by bas-reliefs, the whole re- 
flecting the rays of a torrid sun. Though it is all 
quite different, yet somehow it recalls the narrow, 
crowded streets and bazaars of Cairo and Alexandria. 
It is very natural, in passing, to regard with interest 
those screened balconies, and to imagine what the lives 
may be of the half orientally excluded women within 
them, while occasionally catching luminous glances 
from curious eyes. The notes of a guitar, or those of 
the piano, often reach the ear of the passer-by, some- 
times accompanied by the ringing notes of a song, for 
the ladies of Brazil are extremely fond of music; in- 
deed, it seems to be almost their only distraction. Of 
books they know very little, and any literary reference 
is to them like speaking in an unknown tongue. Even 
the one poet of Portugal, Camoens, appears to be a 
stranger on this side of the Atlantic. The isolation 
and want of intellectual resort among the average 
women of this country are a sad reality, and are in a 
degree their excuse for some unfortunate indulgences 
and immoralities, domestic unfaithfulness being as 
common here as in Paris or Vienna. 

The majority of the Brazilian women marry at or 



186 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

before the age of sixteen, and become old, as we use 
the term, at thirty. The climate and the cares of 
maternity together age them prematurely. In early 
youth, and until they have reached twenty three or 
four years, they are almost universally very handsome, 
but this beauty is not retained, as is often the case 
among the sex in colder climes. Of their charms, it 
must be honestly admitted that they are almost purely 
physical (animal); the beauty which high culture im- 
parts to the features, by informing the mind and de- 
veloping the intellect, is not found as a rule among 
Brazilian women. Of course there are some delight- 
ful and notable exceptions to this conclusion, but we 
speak of the women, generally, of what is termed the 
better class. Now and then one meets with ladies 
who have been educated in the United States, or in 
Europe, upon whom early and refined associations 
have left an unmistakable impress. The superiority 
of such is at once manifest, both in general ease of 
manner, and the inexplicable charm which high breed- 
ing imparts. 

One searches in vain for a full-faced, well-devel- 
oped, hearty looking man, among the natives in the 
streets of this capital. The average people, both high 
and low, are sallow, undersized, and cadaverous. 
Sunken cheeks and thin figures are the rule among 
the men, a passing North American or Englishman 
only serving to furnish a strong and suggestive con- 
trast. These people have brilliantly expressive eyes, 
with handsome teeth and mouths, though half shriv- 



THE ROMISH CHURCH. 187 

eled up and undeveloped in body. If one pauses to 
analyze the matter, he comes to the conclusion that 
vice and short commons, unwholesome morals and an 
unwholesome climate, have much to do with this pre- 
vailing appearance, which must be in part hereditary, 
to be so universal, commencing some way back and 
increasing with the generations. As in Mexico, gen- 
tlemen meeting on the streets of Rio hug each other 
with both arms, at the same time inflicting two or three 
quick, earnest slaps with the flat of the hand upon the 
back. This is perhaps after an absence of a few 
days ; but if they meet ten times a day, off come their 
hats, and they shake hands with the most earnest dem- 
onstrations, both at meeting and at parting. Kissing 
on both cheeks is common enough in many parts of 
Europe among society people, but this hugging busi- 
ness between men meeting upon the public streets 
strikes one as a waste of the raw material. 

It goes without saying that the popular religion 
of Rio Janeiro and the country at large is that of 
the Romish Church, though all denominations are tol- 
erated by the laws of the republic. In some districts 
it is the same here as in Mexico and continental 
Spain, the Protestants being persecuted in every pos- 
sible manner. Nevertheless, the power of the priest- 
hood, we were creditably informed, is on the wane. 
They owe the loss of it in a great measure to the gross 
abuse of their positions and their shamefully immoral 
lives. No one conversant with the true state of the 
case, be he Protestant or Romanist, can deny this 



188 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

statement. The author thought that the Roman 
Catholic priests of Mexico were about as wicked a set 
of men as he had ever met with, taken as a whole, 
but further experience in South America has con- 
vinced him that the Mexican priesthood have their 
equals in immorality in Brazil, and elsewhere south 
of Panama. The popular religion of the country is 
one of the saddest features of its national existence, 
forming the great drag-weight upon its moral, and 
indirectly upon its physical progress. 

The Botanical Garden of Rio is a justly famous 
resort, situated about six miles from the city, behind 
the Corcovada, between that mountain and the sea, but 
it is easily reached by tramway, or better still by a 
delightful drive along the shore of Botafogo Bay, 
over a road shaded by imperial palms, together with 
occasional clusters of the ever beautiful bamboo, the 
sight of which recalled the luxuriant specimens seen 
in Japan and Sumatra. The nearest approach to this 
admirable public garden is to be found at Kandy, in 
the island of Ceylon, which, as we remember it, is 
considerably more extensive, and presents a larger 
variety of tropical vegetation. The examples of the 
india-rubber tree, especially, are finer in the Asiatic 
garden than we find them at Rio. A tall, slim- 
stemmed sloth-tree, straight as an arrow, and bare 
of branches or leaves except at the top, was pointed 
out to us here. It is so called because it is the favor- 
ite resort of that animal. This creature is very easily 
captured, and the natives are fond of its meat, which 



VARIOUS TREES. 189 

may be nutritious, but it can hardly be called pala- 
table. As it is almost entirely a vegetable -feeding 
animal, we know not why there should be any objection 
to the meat it produces. The sloth climbs up into 
the tall branches of the tree described, though it does 
so with considerable difficulty, and there remains until 
it has consumed every leaf and tender shoot which it 
bears ; then the voracious creature wanders off to find 
and denude another. 

The bread-fruit tree is interesting, with its hand- 
some feathery leaves, and its large, melon-shaped 
product. It grows to fifty feet in height, and bears 
fruit constantly for three quarters of the year, then 
takes a three months' rest. It is only equaled in the 
profuseness of its product by the banana, forming one 
of the staple sources of food supply to the lazy, indo- 
lent denizens of tropical regions. The candelabra- 
tree, with its silver -tinted foliage, is one of the beau- 
ties of this charming Brazilian garden. Among other 
notable trees are fine specimens of the camphor-tree, 
the tamarind, the broad-spreading mango, opulent 
in fruitfulness, the flowering magnolia, also the soap- 
tree, with its saponaceous berries. The cochineal 
cactus was thriving after its kind, near by what is 
called the cow-tree, which interests one quite as much 
as any of its companions, rising over a hundred feet in 
height, with a red bark and fig-like leaves. The milk 
which it yields is of cream-like consistency, very sim- 
ilar to that from a cow, and it may be used for any 
ordinary purpose to which we put that article. The 



190 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

tree is tapped, as we treat the sugar -maple, in order 
to obtain its very remarkable and useful product. It 
is nutritious, that is freely admitted ; but most prob- 
ably it lias some medicinal properties of a latent char- 
acter, though of this we could learn nothing. 

The world -famed avenue of royal palms in the Bo- 
tanical Garden of Rio is unique, being undoubtedly 
the finest tropical arboretum in the world arranged by 
the hand of man. We saw here a delicate little mem- 
ber of the palm family, a sort of baby tree, known as 
the small-stemmed palm of Para. Many trees from 
Asia have become domesticated side by side with the 
maple, the pine, and the elm from New England. 
Some of the large trees were decked with orchids and 
hanging lichens, the dainty and fantastic ornamen- 
tation of nature herself, not promoted by artificial 
means. The humidity of the atmosphere especially 
facilitates the growth of this beautiful family of plants, 
which are as erratic in shape as they are variegated 
in prismatic colors. 

It would require a whole chapter to do even partial 
justice to this remarkable garden behind the Corco- 
vado mountain. 

One sees here myriads of delicate humming-birds, 
wonderful animated gems of color, remarkable in 
Brazil for their metallic hues. Such brilliancy of 
lustre, glancing in the warm sunlight, is fascinating 
to behold. The Spaniards call these delicate little 
creatures "winged flowers," and the Portuguese, 
"flower -kissers." A lady resident of Rio told the 



HUMMING-BIRDS. 191 

author of the vain attempt of a patient German sci- 
entist to domesticate a few specimens of these birds. 
He commenced by taking them from the nest soon 
after they were hatched, at various periods of their 
growth, and even after they had learned to fly, but 
although infinite care was taken to supply their usual 
food, and also not to confine them too closely, the 
naturalist was fain to acknowledge the impossibility 
of accomplishing his object, though the experiment 
extended over a period of two years. The ceaseless 
activity of this frail little bird renders any circum- 
scribing of its liberty fatal to existence. 

Delicate, innocent, and apparently harmless as but- 
terflies, these diminutive creatures are often very pug- 
nacious, and when two males engage in a contest with 
each other, which is not seldom the case, one or the 
other often loses his life. If disturbed during the 
period of incubation, they will attack large birds and 
even human beings, directing their long, needle-like 
bills at the offender's eyes. Our informant told us the 
particulars of a man who, under such circumstances, 
came very near losing both of these organs. Scien- 
tists have succeeded in preserving over two hundred 
different specimens of this little feathered beauty, 
representing that number of species indigenous to 
Brazil. Some of these are only five or six times as 
large as a humble-bee. The artificial flowers already 
referred to as being for sale in the shops of Eio de- 
pend almost entirely upon the humming-bird for their 
delicate beauty; no other feathered creature affords 



192 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

such marvelous colors and exquisitely fine material for 
the purpose. The best specimens of this work are 
necessarily expensive, requiring, besides a truly artistic 
taste and eye, skill of execution, infinite patience, and 
much time, to produce them. We saw a choice design 
of this sort, measuring about fifteen by twenty inches, 
framed under a glass, the design being a bouquet of 
natural flowers, for which the asking price was five 
hundred dollars ; four hundred and fifty had been 
refused. The feathers were almost entirely from the 
throat and breast of humming-birds, arranged by a 
woman who had made this work the occupation of 
her life from girlhood. We learned that such a piece 
of artistic effect represented nearly a year' s labor ! 

One also finds in the Rio shops flower-pieces ingen- 
iously formed from the scales of high-colored fishes, 
as well as from the wings and bodies of native insects 
characterized by brilliant colors, but these of course 
will not compare in delicacy and beauty with the 
products of the feathers. The Brazilian beetle is pre- 
pared in a myriad of ornamental forms and in many 
combinations, sometimes mingled with feathers. In 
the Rua dos Ourives there are two or three shops 
where a great variety of such objects is offered for 
sale. These stores have also many choice native 
stones of great beauty, including the true Brazilian 
topaz, for which there is a growing and appreciative 
demand. 

The idea prevails that the climate of Rio is like 
some parts of Africa, suffocatingly hot all the time, 



SANITARY CONDITIONS. 193 

but this is not correct. The American consul told the 
author that he had suffered more from the cold than 
from the heat in the environs of the city, where his 
residence is in a rather elevated district. He declared 
that the temperature, even in town, was rarely so 
extreme as is often found in the cities of the United 
States. He believes that the yellow fever might be 
effectually banished from Eio by the adoption of strict 
quarantine and effective sanitary measures in the city 
proper. As we have already intimated, consumption 
prevails here to an alarming extent. This is doubt- 
less owing to the peculiar dampness of the atmosphere. 
We found that statistics show one half as many deaths 
from consumption as from yellow fever, taking the 
aggregate of five years. "The one disease comes an- 
nually in the heat of summer only, as a rule," said our 
informant, "while the other prevails more or less all 
the year round, year in and year out." During the 
two weeks which the author stopped at Rio, forty and 
fifty fatal cases of yellow fever a day were recorded, 
and doubtless more than that number actually fell 
. victims to its ravages, as only those who died in the 
several hospitals were enumerated. We were in the 
city in June, one of the winter months in this lati- 
tude. Heretofore the fever has nearly always disap- 
peared, as an epidemic, by the first or middle of May, 
even in years when it has been most prevalent and 
fatal. Notwithstanding the charm of novelty which 
so absorbs the stranger, we are free to confess there 
was a lurking dread of the subtle enemy which proved 



194 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

so swift and fatal all about us. Fifty deaths daily 
by yellow fever in a population exceeding half a mil- 
lion only served to show that it still lingered in a 
sporadic form where the seeds are perhaps never en- 
tirely exterminated. It most readily attacks strangers 
and the unacclimated, but no class is exempt. The 
indigent, careless, drunken portion of the population 
are no more liable, we were informed, to contract the 
disease than others of better habits. This outrages 
all preconceived notions of diseases of this character, 
but we were assured by good authority that it was 
really so. The day we left Rio, the English Bishop, 
a most estimable man, who was universally respected 
and beloved, died of the fell disease. 

The summer season begins in October and lasts until 
April, and is better known here as the wet season, the 
rain falling with great regularity nearly every after- 
noon, and at about the same time. Usually an hour 
of liberal downpour is experienced, then it promptly 
clears up and becomes bright and pleasant. The 
warmest month is February. The winter months are 
May, June, July, and August; this is the dry season, 
during which very little rain falls. The climate ap- 
pears to be particularly injurious to persons who are 
troubled with a torpid liver. Elephantiasis is indi- 
genous, but it is not very common ; the few cases seen 
were upon the streets, and were those of negroes who 
exposed their diseased limbs to excite public pity, 
making the affliction an excuse for systematic begging. 
A score of such unfortunates were seen daily in and 



ENVIRONS OF RIO. 195 

about Palace Square, and one or two regularly posted 
themselves before the Globe Restaurant, which is the 
Maison Doree of Rio Janeiro. 

The well-to-do merchants do not think of living in 
town, but select some pleasant spot in the environs, 
where they erect picturesque homes, often extremely 
attractive to the eye architecturally, and surrounded 
by lovely gardens, containing both native and exotic 
plants and trees. The contrast between commercial 
and rural Rio is something very striking. One pre- 
sents all the grossness and belittling aspect of money- 
getting, the other the graces, liberality, and enno- 
bling appearance of culture and refinement. Of all 
the trees in these attractive environs, the palm, in 
its great variety, challenges one's admiration most. 
We mention it frequently, for it was our constant de- 
light. At every turn one comes upon it, in its several 
species, — the cocoa-palm, the palmetto, the cabbage, 
the assai-palm, the fanshaped-palm, and scores of 
other varieties. The hand and taste of woman are 
seen in these gardens of the environs. Flowers are 
selected and arranged as only feminine taste could sug- 
gest, while the broad piazzas are simply floral bowers 
and gardens of placid delights. 

The province round about Rio is beautified and ren- 
dered profitable by the many large coffee plantations, 
particularly attractive when the well-trimmed bushes 
are seen in full bearing, bending under the weight of 
red berries. Orange orchards abound, the branches 
of the trees heavy with the rich golden fruit ; yet as an 



196 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

orange-producing section, Florida, in our own coun- 
try, is fully its equal. The fruit of the southern part 
of the United States is much better and more intelli- 
gently cultivated, and is larger and fairer, than the 
fruit of this region. We except Bahia, however, in 
this remark; that is the very paradise of oranges. 
Besides the abundance of fruits, Flora reigns in Bra- 
zil, and near to Kio bignonias, passifloras, variegated 
honeysuckles, morning-glories, magnolias, and or- 
chids mingle with the dark green mango trees and 
the delicate light green mimosas which meet the eye 
everywhere. It appears that the several species of, 
flowers have their special season for blooming, when 
they are at their best, so that a large variety is always 
seen in bloom at all times in the year. We must 
confess to having felt half lost without the "Queen 
of Flowers," our grand favorite; but as to roses, it 
was found that the ever present ants maintained 
a fixed hostility to them, rendering it particularly 
difficult to rear them in this country. In all of the 
many lands we have visited, the author has never 
seen such superbly developed roses as are produced 
in and about the city of Boston. There is some 
quality in the climate of New England, added to the 
genius of her famous florists, especially adapted to 
their perfection. 

The broad leafed umbrella-tree — chapeo do sul — 
is often seen in this neighborhood cultivated as a 
shade tree, both in town and country, while the thick 
clustering bamboo, so often referred to, adds its 



"PORTUGUESE JOE." 197 

unique beauty to the environs in all directions. The 
banana and plantain, both cultivated and wild, thrive 
hereabouts, and form an important adjunct to the food 
supply of all classes. The banana is cultivated by 
offsets, and is of rapid growth, coming to maturity and 
bearing fruit a few months after it is planted. Brazil 
seems to be well called the home of fruits and flowers. 
Has the reader ever chanced to hear of "Portu- 
guese Joe," of Rio Janeiro? He is a man as well 
known in the capital of Brazil as the late emperor. 
Ostensibly he is only a successful shipchandler, whole- 
sale grocer, purveyor — by appointment — to the 
American and British naval ships which put into Rio, 
or which are stationed here; but over and above his 
extensive commercial relations, we found him to be a 
Good Samaritan. He is quite ready for legitimate 
business, and has realized a handsome fortune by fair 
and honorable dealing. He charges a reasonable 
profit upon the various supplies which he furnishes, 
but his goods are exactly what he represents them to 
be, and he has the confidence of all who deal with 
him. His establishment grew up from a small begin- 
ning, he having come from Portugal to engage in busi- 
ness when only thirteen years of age. To-day he is 
in the prime of life, and his store on the Paraca de 
Dom Pedro II. is a city institution. The highest offi- 
cial, the wealthiest bankers, and the most influential 
merchants are glad to shake him cordially by the 
hand. Signor J. C. V. Mendes — the other title 
being a trade nom de plume of long standing — is a 



198 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

gentleman by nature, and a true friend to all strangers 
who seek his counsels on arriving at Kio. We fortu- 
nately became acquainted with Signor Mendes on the 
first day of our landing, and are glad to speak of his 
ready courtesy and desire to make all Americans at 
home who arrive in the capital of Brazil. It is no 
particular recommendation, but it is a pleasure to say 
that, with his calm, self-possessed manner, his bril- 
liant black eyes and genial smile lighting up his 
bronzed features, he is unquestionably the handsomest 
man whom we chanced to meet in Eio Janeiro. Manly 
beauty is not an imperative adjunct to excellence, but 
is still a very agreeable accessory. 

One naturally anticipates but will not find any social 
distinction as to race in this city. Color opposes no 
obstacle to progress in educational or official position. 
Pupils of the public schools meet on the same footing 
and mingle promiscuously. There is nothing to pre- 
vent the intelligent negro from becoming a judge or 
minister of state, or from filling any high civil office, 
if he develops proper ability. Many bureaus in the 
public offices are held by colored men, observably in 
the custom house, and the race generally is regarded 
with far more respect than with us in the United 
States. 

Providence has liberally endowed the larger portion 
of Brazil with a fertile soil, an unrivaled flora, and 
a delightful climate. For a tropical country, it is re- 
markably temperate and salubrious. It has mountain 
scenery excelling that of Switzerland, with fertile 



PROGRESS OF BRAZIL. 199 

valleys surpassing those of Italy, and myriads of rivers 
affording ample means of transportation with natural 
and abundant irrigation. Unlike many of her sister 
states, including those on the west coast of the conti- 
nent, she is exempt from earthquakes and the destruc- 
tion caused by devouring tidal waves. While so 
much of Mexico and thousands of miles of the Pacific 
coast are scorched by drought, there are no districts 
of Brazil exempt from regular and refreshing rains, 
the importance of which cannot be overestimated. To 
crown all else, the splendid harbor of her capital by its 
size, safety, and beauty invites the commerce of the 
world. It would certainly seem, when we realize all 
of these special advantages, that nature had intended 
so large and favored a portion of the globe to ulti- 
mately be the home of a great, powerful, and prosper- 
ous nation. 

That the material growth of Brazil is mainly in the 
right direction is manifest to the most casual observer. 
The many lines of railways penetrating the country in 
every province will by and by prove to be effective 
means of development. Wherever the facilities are 
liberally afforded, not only individuals, but ideas, are 
sure to travel, and social and material improvement 
must follow. Civilization keeps pace with the iron 
horse. When the street rails penetrated the canons 
of Utah, polygamy was doomed. Material facts are 
stronger than arguments of well-meaning moralists. 
The establishment of so many railroads through the 
wilds of South America may not be a paying matter, 



200 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

it is not so at this writing, but a great moral pur- 
pose, and that of true progress, will be subserved by 
them. They will be the agents of enlightenment and 
civilization to many wild tribes of Indians, at the same 
time opening broad and favorable tracts of territory 
for settlement by emigrants from the crowded and 
overstocked states of Europe. 

On the homeward passage, when we visited Rio 
Janeiro for the second time, it was found to be rife 
with politics; but like Joseph's coat, of so many colors 
as to be confusing to a foreigner. It may reasonably 
be doubted if the natives themselves clearly under- 
stood what they wanted. The revolutionary element 
seemed very strong, and was led by men who had no- 
thing to lose by agitation, but everything to gain by a 
lawless uprising. The most intelligent citizens pre- 
dicted a popular revolution of some sort in the near 
future, and their anticipation proved to be correct. 
Revolution is chronic in South America. 



CHAPTER X. 

Petropolis. — Summer Residence of the Citizens of Rio. — Brief 
Sketch of the late Royal Family. — Dom Pedro's Palace. — A De- 
lightful Mountain Sanitarium. — A Successful but Bloodless Revo- 
lution. — Floral Delights. — Mountain Scenery. — Heavy Gam- 
bling. — A German Settlement. — Cascatinha. — Remarkable 
Orchids. — Local Types. — A Brazilian Forest. — Compensation. 

Petropolis, — or the city of Peter, — the fash- 
ionable summer resort of the citizens of Rio Janeiro, 
is a modern town, dating only from 1844, and contains 
at that season of the year a population of some eight 
thousand. The intense heat of the crowded city in 
the summer months, not to mention its usually un- 
healthy condition, makes even the acclimated inhab- 
itants seek a refuge in the hills. So long as the fever 
continues to rage, merchants leave their families here, 
and come up nightly to sleep and breathe the fresh, pure 
air. It is only on the coast and in crowded communi- 
ties that epidemics prevail. We were told by residents 
that a case of yellow fever never originated at Petrop- 
olis ; that it was too elevated for the citizens to fear 
anything of the sort. It is so generally throughout 
the country; the yellow fever prevails only in the 
ports and at sea level, a peculiarity also observable in 
Cuba and the several West Indian islands. When the 
fever prevails, as it does annually at Havana and Ma- 



202 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

tanzas, the wealthy citizens, and all unaccliinated peo- 
ple who are able to do so, retire inland to elevated 
localities, where they are comparatively safe from the 
scourge. The same rule applies to the coast cities of 
South America, — Para, Pernambuco, Bahia, etc. It 
is a very important matter to the merchants of Rio 
that they have, within two or three hours' reach of 
their overheated city offices, a resort where they can sit 
in a dry skin and sleep in quiet and comfort. Had 
they not this resort, they would be obliged to suc- 
cumb to disease, or to leave Rio for half of the year 
annually. 

Petropolis is situated in the Organ Mountain range, 
about thirty miles from the metropolis, and is some- 
thing less than three thousand feet above tide-water. 
The town is built in a slight depression among the 
well-wooded hills, forming a vale of alpine beauty, 
easily reached from Rio by boat and rail. The latter 
portion of the trip, comprising a sharp mountain 
ascent, is made by a system of railroad like that by 
which the summit of Corcovado is reached. The 
popular route is to cross the harbor at Rio by a large 
and commodious steamboat, a distance of twelve miles, 
and then to take the steam-cars. There is also an- 
other railroad route, all the way by land. The late 
emperor's summer palace is the prominent feature of 
Petropolis, together with its elaborate gardens, cover- 
ing some fifteen or twenty acres of land. Hither 
come the diplomatic representatives of foreign nations 
to enjoy the salubrious mountain air and the hospita- 



DOM PEDRO II. 203 

ble society of the best people of Rio Janeiro, and to 
lay aside many of the constraints of city life. A 
great contrast is apparent here to the crowded streets 
and narrow lanes of the uncleanly capital, while the 
air is undoubtedly remarkable for its healthful and 
invigorating qualities. The summer palace is sur- 
rounded by elegantly arranged grounds, planted with 
rare flowers and choice trees from every clime. In 
general effect it resembles an old English country 
house, except for the tropical vegetation, the fine 
verdant lawns of grass, the only ones of any extent 
in the country, being particularly noticeable. This 
mountain resort has been called the Versailles of 
Brazil. 

It seems appropriate to recall, in brief, the family 
history of the late emperor, Dom Pedro II., of whose 
favorite abiding-place we are speaking. He enjoyed a 
distinguished reputation among modern rulers, was lib- 
eral, scholarly, and possessed of great experience of men 
and the world at large. Having been an observant 
and studious traveler in many parts of the globe, his 
endeavor was to adopt the best well-tried systems of 
other governments in educational and other matters 
relating to political economy. His system was mild, 
progressive, and designed for the general good of the 
people over whom he presided ; in fact, it was too mild 
for the turbulent, unlettered masses of the provinces 
of Brazil. They were not intellectually prepared for 
such leniency. 

The royal family of Portugal fled hither in 1808, 



204 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

at the time of Napoleon's invasion of that country, 
but returned to Europe in 1821. A national congress 
assembled at Rio Janeiro the next year, and chose 
Dom Pedro, eldest son of King Joao VI. of Portugal, 
" Perpetual Defender of Brazil." He proclaimed the 
independence of the country, and was chosen " Con- 
stitutional Emperor." In 1831 he abdicated in favor 
of his only son, Dom Pedro II., who reigned as em- 
peror until November 15, 1889, when he was de- 
throned by a bloodless revolution, and, together with 
his family, was exiled, Brazil declaring herself a re- 
public under the title she now bears of the United 
States of Brazil. The feeling was nearly universal 
among the Brazilians that they desired to live under a 
republican form of government, but Dom Pedro II. 
was a man of such estimable character, so just, intelli- 
gent, and popular a ruler, that the revolution, which 
finally dethroned him, was deferred long after it was 
determined upon. The peaceful manner in which it 
was finally achieved is perhaps without precedent, and 
shows how thoroughly the mind of the active spirits 
of the nation was made up to this end. It was a po- 
litical coup d'etat, accomplished without the burning 
of an ounce of gunpowder. The emperor himself 
seemed to accept the position as a foregone conclusion. 
"We learned from persons who had been quite inti- 
mate with him that he had already anticipated the 
whole condition of affairs, foreseeing that it was in- 
evitable. If this is so, he was wise as well as diplo- 
matic and humane, for he had enough devoted adher- 



THE LATE EMPEROR. 205 

ents abdut him to have made a serious though doubt- 
less futile conflict for possession. There are always 
myriads of the unthinking rabble ready to join and 
even fight for authority which is already established, 
especially when seconded, as was the case with Dom 
Pedro, by a strong personal popularity. 

The palace at Petropolis is, with its extensive 
grounds, now offered for sale, the country having no 
further use for palaces. It is understood that a local 
syndicate propose to purchase the whole and cut up 
the land into building lots, which are very much in 
demand just at this writing. It would not be surpris- 
ing if Petropolis were to double its population during 
the next four or five years. Speculators are already 
at work "booming" the place, and a summer home 
here is just what the Rio merchant requires. 

Some queer stories are told about the every-day life 
of Dom Pedro by his neighbors. It seems, accord- 
ing to these reports, — for the truth of which we cannot 
vouch, — that he often chose as his associates and ad- 
visers uneducated persons of very humble origin, who 
had accumulated wealth by shrewdness and industry, 
besides which he latterly exhibited many very peculiar 
traits of character ; but, as we say, it is difficult to de- 
cide whether these stories are to be relied upon. It is 
more than hinted that he had grown very weak minded, 
or, as the Scotch say, had a bee in his bonnet. At 
all events, it now appears that he did not possess the 
necessary energy and executive ability requisite to 
control a naturally turbulent and restless people, and 



206 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

that his summary dethronement, so peaceably accom- 
plished, must have come sooner or later. 

It is very natural to speculate upon the present 
state of affairs in this country, since the change has 
taken place. To render a republic possible and suc- 
cessful requires a liberal degree of intelligence among 
the common people, that is, the masses at large. Un- 
fortunately Brazil cannot boast of such a condition 
among her population. The educated, cultured por- 
tion of the community is quite limited, consequently 
the country is hardly fit for self-government. Igno- 
rant masses are only amenable to the strong arm, and 
cannot, while untaught, be controlled through the 
influence of reason and argument. Past experience 
shows us that while a republic in the United States, 
France, or Switzerland means freedom and order, in 
these half barbaric southern states it signifies an 
alternation of revolution and of military despotism. 
Subject to the rule of Dom Pedro, Brazil was alike 
free from despotism and from disorder, so that it may 
be questioned whether his liberal reign was not, under 
the circumstances, the truest republic for which Brazil 
was fitted. Indeed, while these lines are being writ- 
ten, the question of a return to the former style of 
government is openly discussed at Rio Janeiro, where 
a state of political imbroglio exists very similar to 
the conditions which caused the late disastrous civil 
war in Chili, on the other side of the Andes. Such a 
shocking outcome, however, need never be feared in 
Brazil as has been developed by the sister republic 



ENVIRONS OF THE CITY. 207 

on the Pacific coast, since both intelligence and civ- 
ilization are far more advanced in Brazil than in 
Chili. 

The town of Petropolis and its neighborhood pos- 
sesses good roads for driving purposes, this location 
having been for several years the pride and pleasure 
of the late emperor, who made the place what it 
now is by his liberal expenditures and the constant 
improvements which he instituted, paying for them 
out of his own private purse. The first selection of 
this healthful spot was also his idea, and he felt a 
personal pride in doing everything possible towards 
making it popular. The roads referred to lead one 
through delightful scenery and highly cultivated neigh- 
borhoods, beautified by art, until finally they lose 
themselves among the hills and amidst impenetrable 
forests. There are several fairly good hotels here, 
where the charges are moderate and the domestic con- 
veniences execrable ! The - great variety of trees to be 
found in and about the town is marvelous, the palm and 
pine prevailing, interspersed with the beautiful fea- 
thery Brazilian cedar. The tree-ferns which grow here 
to a height of twelve feet are great favorites, with their 
bright green fronds, six feet in length, almost reach- 
ing the ground as the stalk bends gracefully with their 
weight. The scarlet passion flower is trained as an or- 
namental creeper in nearly every garden-plot, and tall 
fuchsias in various colors and pearl white camellias 
also abound. We have rarely seen the camellia in 
such variety of colors, or such profusion of flowers. 



208 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

It is often found blooming beside tall coffee-trees, 
themselves full of deep green clustering berries, the 
tree, where grown for ornamental purposes, being 
permitted to reach full proportions. Here one sees 
also a profusion of the rich green bamboo in prolific 
groves by the roadside, or surrounding humble cot- 
tages, -thus forming a welcome shade. In midsum- 
mer, so rapid is the growth of the bamboo that every 
twenty-four hours acids two feet to its height, or in 
other words, it grows an inch each hour throughout the 
day and the night. Jack's fabulous beanstalk hardly 
surpasses the bamboo, though the former is an amus- 
ing myth, while the latter is simply a literal fact. 
Some very lovely gladioli and white roses were noted 
as adding their beauty to these charming hill gardens 
in the Organ Mountains. So abundant were the 
flowers of various kinds in the grounds which sur- 
rounded our hotel, that any one was welcome to pluck 
and appropriate them to the extent of his fancy. 
The public tables were supplied with fresh ones every 
day, forming great living pyramids of beautiful colors, 
emitting inimitable fragrance. 

Our hotel was situated on gently rising ground, 
commanding a considerable view of the plateau on 
which the town stands, with Dom Pedro's palace in 
the middle foreground, shaded by groups of palms. 
It was a delight to sit out-of-doors and watch the cloud 
effects as they hung over the tree-covered hills and 
peaks, closing their ranks now and again, and sweeping 
over the valley like a dashing charge of cavalry ; or 



TROPICAL TWILIGHT. 209 

cautiously advancing in single scuds like infantry 
deployed as skirmishers ; or, again, mottling the sky 
in white and peaceful masses. At the brief twilight 
hour, it was like a living poem to note the varying 
sunset hues creeping along the valley and gleaming 
through the branches of the grand old trees which 
broke the sky-line of the mountains, and the soft lilac 
blush of the sky, like a profile in silhouette, with 
sharp curves and infinite detail. A deep, broad gulch, 
opening towards the west, afforded a lingering view 
of the golden, crimson, and pink horizon, long after 
the day had closed, and until the stars gleamed forth 
through the transparent atmosphere and glorified the 
advent of night. 

This is nature in her happy moods. A little later, 
to these exquisite delights of the moment, an ugly ob- 
verse presents itself. " Only man is vile." 

From opposite the open window where we sit pen- 
ning these lines, — it is a Sabbath evening, — there 
comes the sharp rattle of diceboxes and billiard balls, 
together with the loud, angry talk of persons engaged 
at gambling games of cards, interrupted by the re- 
peated cries of the presiding genius of the roulette 
table : " Make your game, signors, make your game," 
as he coolly rakes in the winnings of the bank. Italian, 
French, English, and Spanish adventurers mingle 
their jargon with Portuguese in the noisy throng who 
crowd the gambling "hell." It was said that sev- 
enteen thousand dollars were won by a Portuguese 
gentleman, last evening, in this " casino " just across 



210 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

the street, so losers to a like amount, on the same 
occasion, must have been rendered half desperate. 
The wretchedly demoralizing effect of gambling is 
apparent throughout all the cities of this republic, 
the common lotteries tempting the mass of the people, 
and various games of chance others who have money 
to risk. 

Petropolis is extremely attractive in many respects, 
the scenery round about it very much resembling that 
of Switzerland. The broad streets are lined with such 
pretty villas and attractive gardens that one falls to 
making romantic pictures of possible delightful things 
which might naturally happen in them, and is led to 
peer into nooks and corners with a prying earnestness 
amounting almost to impertinence. These avenues 
contain in their centres deep canals, thirty or forty 
feet wide, having granite linings and the upper portion 
of the banks neatly sodded with grass. Through these 
canals the water from the surrounding hills flows in a 
pure, rapid stream, carrying away the drainage of the 
town, which is emptied into them by underground 
conduits. These water-ways are crossed by numerous 
small but substantial bridges, painted scarlet, while 
the rushing river imparts a delightful coolness. 

The largest portion of the permanent inhabitants of 
Petropolis is composed of Germans, whose native 
tongue is heard on all sides, while the familiar clatter 
of wooden shoes speaks of Berlin, Dresden, and other 
German continental centres. The rosy-cheeked, flaxen- 
haired, blue-eyed children are also prima facie evidence 



LOCAL SCENES. 211 

of the prevailing nationality, though there are a large 
number of Italians who reside here. The latter keep 
small shops and are peddlers of fruit, or marble cutters 
and stucco workers, while many others find employ- 
ment as gardeners. 

The highway to a certain mining district passes 
through the town, and many donkeys laden with inland 
products are constantly to be seen in the streets en 
route for Rio, giving the place a business aspect hardly 
warranted by the local trade. From the neighboring 
hills charcoal burners drive their donkeys every morn- 
ing, laden with that article for domestic use in the 
town, forming picturesque groups on the public square, 
where they await purchasers. Others bring small-cut 
wood from the hill for fuel, packed in little, narrow, 
toy carts, each drawn by a single donkey. Scores of 
donkeys bearing tall, widespread loads of green fod- 
der are so hidden by the mass of greenery which they 
struggle under, that none of the animal is seen at 
all, leading one to imagine that Birnam wood has 
literally come to Dunsinane. These animals are al- 
most always attended by women, who sell the fodder 
in the market and return home at night with such 
domestic necessities as are required. Women are the 
laborers here, as at home in Germany, where they 
perform the hard work, while their husbands guzzle 
beer and smoke endless tobacco. 

Petropolis is, as we have said, steadily growing, but 
the banishment of the emperor will retard its progress, 
as it takes from the town its strongest element of as- 



212 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

sured success. We counted about a score of fine, large 
residences in course of construction. The climate 
here is like that of June in New England, and the 
verdure of the trees is perennial. 

There is a charming excursion which strangers 
rarely fail to enjoy^ namely, to a place familiarly 
known as the Cascades. The village adjoining these 
falls is called Cascatinha, and is situated in the lap 
of the Organ Mountains, about five miles from Pe- 
tropolis. The road thither leads along the side of a 
small but boisterous stream, which gladdens the ear 
with its merry, gurgling notes, past lowly, thatched 
cottages, orange orchards, bamboo and banana groves, 
and green breadths of well - cultivated, undulating 
land, finally ending in the midst of a panorama of 
bold mountain peaks, lovely with varied gradations of 
tint, and subtlest effects of light and shade. Here 
the abundant water furnished by the river, which is 
artificially adapted to the purpose, forms a series of 
cascades and falls, at the same time furnishing the 
motive power for operating extensive cotton and 
woolen mills, which give employment to several hun- 
dred men and women. A very humble type of life 
mingles hereabouts with that of a much more refined 
character. Naked or half-clad children are seen here 
and there playing with those who are comparatively 
well dressed. Nice cottage homes adjoin those of the 
poorest class. Children of both sexes are observed, 
only partially covered with rags, who are endowed with 
a loveliness of eyes and features, together with hand- 



BEAUTIFUL ORCHIDS. 213 

some figures, causing one to reflect upon the unful- 
filled possibilities of such childish beauty. 

Men and women often bring into Petropolis and 
offer for sale beautiful orchids, which they ^nd in the 
woods not far away. These they pack in green leaves, 
retaining a piece of the original bark or wood upon 
which they have grown. These pretty flowerings of 
exuberant nature are sold for a trifling price. Some 
are very remarkable in form and color, such as we have 
never before chanced to see, and for really rare ones 
the finders ask and receive good prices. We saw 
among them a specimen of the Flor del Espiritu Santo, 
— " Flower of the Holy Spirit," — to find which is 
thought to bring to the fortunate discoverer good luck, 
as well as a handsome price for the orchid. These 
women may have passed whole days in their search of 
the forest, patiently breaking their way through nearly 
impassable jungles, before nature reveals to them one 
of her most dainty gems. As a rule, the forests are 
so dense that it is useless to try to penetrate them, 
except by following some beaten route, — a charcoal 
burner's road or a straggling way formed by a water- 
course. 

We well remember, but can only partially describe, 
the glory and beauty of the Brazilian primeval forest. 
The general tone of the color is brownish rather than 
light green, influenced by the absence of strong light, 
for though the sun is glowing in the open country, 
here it is twilight. Not one direct beam penetrates 
the density of the foliage, the sombre drapery of the 



214 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

woods. At first one is awed by the vast extent of the 
forest, by the dark, mournful shadows, by the gigantic 
trees reaching so far heavenward, forming here and 
there gothic arcades of matchless grandeur, and by 
the bewildering variety of the undergrowth. Scarcely 
a tree trunk is seen without its parasite, green with 
foliage not its own, " beyond the power of botanists 
to number up their tribe." These dense jungles might 
be in India, or a bit out of " Darkest Africa ; " one is 
barred by an impenetrable wall of vegetation. Where 
palms occur, it is almost always in groups ; being a 
social tree, it loves the company of its species. So 
with the bamboo, which is found in the more swampy 
regions, but always in groups of its own family. 
These damp woods are the home of the orchids ; it is 
here that they revel in moisture, clinging to the trunks 
of tall, columnar trees, fattening on decayed portions 
of the bark, but forming bits of lovely color, while 
about the stems of other forest monarchs wind creep- 
ing vines of rope-like texture, binding huge trunks in 
a fatal embrace. Their final strangulation is slow, 
but it is sure, — only a question of time. Lofty trees 
bear charming flowers, as lowly shrubs do in our north- 
ern clime. Arborescent ferns vie with the palms in 
poetic beauty, with their elastic, tufted tops. Bunches 
of lilac and blossoms of snowy whiteness hang in the 
air. Drooping mosses depend like human hair from 
widespread branches, and soft, velvety moss carpets 
the way, with here and there dwarf mimosas trailing 
beneath the ferns. Long vines of woody climbers, in 



NATURE'S TEACHINGS. 215 

deep olive-green, twine and intertwine among the 
ranks of stout, aged trees, breaking out at short dis- 
tances with pink, blue, and scarlet buds, rivaling the 
color of the birds which flash hither and thither like 
rays of sunlight breaking through the leafy screen. 
Now and again the shrill or plaintive notes of unfa- 
miliar songsters fall upon the ear, mingling with the 
cooing of the wood-doves and the low drone of the 
dragon-fly. The magnificent arboreal growth of these 
forests develops itself into thousands of strange and 
beautiful forms, stimulated by the constant humidity 
of the high temperature. 

The atheist must feel himself stifled for breath in 
the tropical forest, and his fallacious creed challenged 
by every surrounding object, while a new light illu- 
mines his unwilling soul with irrefutable evidences. 
The Supreme Being writes his gospel not in the Bible 
alone, but upon the grand old trees, the lowly flowers, 
the fleeting clouds, and upon the eternal stars. Those 
who seek nature for religious inspiration never fail to 
obtain it, untrammeled by the vulgar tenets of secta- 
rianism or outraged by the tinsel of church forms 
and ceremonies. 

The observant traveler from the north is fain to 
seek some consolation, some evidence of the glorious 
law of compensation, while comparing the features of 
these poetical latitudes with his own well-beloved but 
more prosaic home. He remembers that if these 
gaudy birds do flout in vivid colors that dazzle and 
charm the eye, they have not the exquisite power of 



216 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

song which inspires our more soberly clad New Eng- 
land favorites. Brilliancy of feathers and sweetness 
of song rarely go together, a natural fact which sug- 
gests a whole moral essay in itself. The torrid zone 
clothes its feathered tribes in glowing plumage, but 
the colder north endows hers with heart-touching mel- 
ody. If the flowers of the tropics exhaust the hues 
of the prism, attracting us by the oddity of their 
forms, while blooming in exuberant abundance, the 
sweet and lowly children of Flora in higher latitudes 
greet the senses with a fragrance unknown in equa- 
torial regions. Joy is nowhere all of a piece. Bless- 
ings, we are forced to believe, whether in the form of 
beauty of color, fragrance, or melody, are very equally 
divided all over the world, and those portions which 
have not one, as a rule, are almost sure to have the 
other. When we become eloquent and appreciative 
in the lively enjoyment of scenes in a new country, it 
is not always because they are more desirable or more 
beautiful than our own ; it is the newness and the con- 
trast which for the moment so captivate us. That to 
which we are accustomed, however grand, becomes 
commonplace ; we covet and require novelty to quicken 
the observation. Were the sun to rise but once a 
year, in place of three hundred and sixty-five times 
every twelve months, we would willingly travel thou- 
sands of miles, if it were necessary, to witness the 
glorious phenomenon. The most charming natural 
objects please us in proportion to their rarity or our 
unfamiliarity with them. 



CHAPTEE XI. 

Port of Santos. — Yellow Fever Scourge. — Down the Coast to Mon- 
tevideo. — The Cathedral. — Pamperos. — Domestic Architecture. 

— A Grand Thoroughfare. — City Institutions. — Commercial Ad- 
vantages. — The Opera House. — The Bull- Fight. — Beggars on 
Horseback. — City Shops. — A Typical Character. — Intoxication. 

— The Campo Santo. — Exports. — Rivers and Railways. 

Santos is the name of a commercially important 
harbor situated on the east coast of South America 
about three hundred miles southwest of Rio Janeiro, 
after which city it is the greatest export harbor for 
coffee in Brazil. Otherwise it is about as uninter- 
esting a spot as can be found on the continent. It 
became a city so late as 1839, and contains some 
twenty thousand inhabitants. Its annual export of 
coffee will reach an aggregate of two hundred and 
twenty -five thousand sacks. The bay is surrounded 
by a succession of hills, and is well sheltered, except on 
the southwest. The town is situated on the west side 
of the harbor, and hugs the shore, many of the houses 
being built upon piles. Behind the town to the west- 
ward rises a succession of mountain ranges. The im- 
mediately surrounding country is low and malarial, 
causing fevers to prevail all the year round. During 
the present season Santos has suffered more seriously 
from yellow fever than any other place on the coast 






218 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

in proportion to the number of its inhabitants. As a 
commercial port it has no rival in southern Brazil. 
Santa Catharina, Porto Alegre, and Rio Grande, the 
three harbors south of Santos, are rendered inacces- 
sible for any but small craft, owing to sandbars at 
their entrances. 

This is the present terminus of the United States 
and Brazil Mail steamship route from New York, and 
notwithstanding its many drawbacks in point of san- 
itary conditions, is yet growing rapidly in commercial 
importance. Its wretchedly unhealthy condition causes 
one to hasten away to the more elevated country, 
where St. Paul is situated, and where the traveler 
runs little or no risk of contracting yellow fever or 
malarial affections of any sort. 

Santos is the port for St. Paul, with which it is 
connected by rail, and from which it is separated by 
about forty miles. 

This capital of the state of Sao Paulo, St. Paul, 
contains some ninety thousand inhabitants. The prov- 
ince is credited with a million and a half. The city 
lies just under the tropic of Capricorn, southwest of 
Rio, about two thousand feet above the level of the 
sea, upon a high ridge, covering an elevated plateau 
of undulating hills. It enjoys the sunshine of the 
tropics, modified by the freshness of the temperate 
zone. It is venerable in years, having been founded 
in 1554, but it seems to have taken a fresh start of 
late, as its population has doubled in the last decade. 
As intimated, it is entirely free from yellow fever, 



A THRIVING CITY. 219 

which is so fatal at Santos, and has excellent drinking 
water, together with good drainage and well-paved 
streets. The city contains some fine public buildings, 
and has many handsome adornments, being largely 
peopled by North Americans and English ; the former 
prevail in numbers and influence, indeed, it has been 
called the American city of Brazil. There is also a 
large Italian colony settled here. St. Paul has a 
good system of tramways, several Protestant churches, 
and a number of educational and charitable public 
institutions, together with many of the attractions of 
a much larger capital. Among the popular amuse- 
ments, the theatre of San Jose is justly esteemed, and 
is a well-appointed establishment in all of its belong- 
ings. There are two spacious public gardens, em- 
bellished with grottoes, fountains, choice trees, and 
flowers, while the private gardens attached to the 
dwellings are numerous and tasteful. 

In the district round about the city venomous ser- 
pents are frequently met with, whose bite is as dan- 
gerous as that of the rattlesnakes of our northern 
climate. As the land is cleared and cultivated, they 
naturally and rapidly disappear. These reptiles fear 
man, and avoid his vicinity quite as earnestly as 
human beings avoid them. It is only when they are 
molested, trodden upon, or cornered, as it were, that 
they attack any one. 

The city is connected with Rio Janeiro by a railway, 
and two other railroads run from it far inland. 
The Rio and St. Paul railway is fairly equipped, but 



220 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

the roadbed is not properly ballasted, and consequently 
one rides over the route in a cloud of dust, while suf- 
fering from the oscillations and jolting of the cars. 
This railway, however, is one of the most successful 
and profitable in the republic. It is some three hun- 
dred miles in length, and passes through a dozen or 
more tunnels, one of which is a mile and a half in 
length. This tunnel required seven years' labor be- 
fore it was passable. There is just now a great 
"boom" of land values in and about St. Paul. It 
is towards this state that the tide of Italian emigra- 
tion is largely directed, for some reason which we do 
not comprehend, but it is probably stimulated by a 
combined effort to this effect. 

The passage southward from Rio Janeiro or Santos 
to Montevideo occupies about five days, but a large 
amount of rougn ocean experience is generally crowded 
into that brief period, added to which the coasting 
steamers are far from affording the ordinary comforts 
so desirable at sea. Of the food supplied to passengers 
one does not feel inclined to complain, because a person 
embarking upon these lines does so knowing what to 
expect ; but as regards the domestic conveniences and 
cleanliness generally, there is no excuse for their 
defective character. We are sorry to say that the 
class of Portuguese and Spaniards one encounters 
on these coasting vessels is far from decently cleanly 
in daily habits, carelessly adding to the unsanitary 
conditions. 

The wind in these latitudes is not only inclined to 



THE PAMPERO. 221 

be fierce, but it usually goes entirely round the com- 
pass at least once or twice during the voyage, and is 
more than liable to wind up, off the mouth of the 
river Plate, with a regular and furious pampero. 
This is a hurricane wind, which is born in the gorges 
of the Andes, and thence pursuing its course over 
nearly a thousand miles of level pampas, gains speed 
and power with every league of progress. The season 
in which these hurricanes — for in their fury they 
deserve to be thus designated — prevail, is from 
March to September, but they are liable to come at 
any time. The wind is considered by the people of 
Montevideo to be wholesome and invigorating, as far 
as the land is concerned, but seamen dread it on ship- 
board, and call it a Plate River hurricane. We 
know of no more disagreeable roadstead than that of 
Montevideo, when a pampero is blowing. We have 
seen ships under these circumstances, with two an- 
chors down, obliged to resort to the use of oil on the 
sea, to prevent themselves from being swamped. 
Though the inhabitants represent a pampero to be com- 
paratively harmless on the land, yet it does sometimes 
commit fearful havoc there also, especially among the 
unprotected herds of wild cattle on the plains, and 
upon all trees or plantations which lie in its devastat- 
ing course. It is true that it brings with it a brac- 
ing and life-giving atmosphere from the snow-capped 
Andes far away, and if it could only do so with less 
forceful demonstration, it would be a welcome visitor 
in the heated days of these regions. 



222 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

The most direct way to illustrate what these South 
American pampas are is to compare them to the vast 
prairies of our Western and Southwestern States. Any 
one familiar with those far-reaching, horizon-bounded 
plains knows what the pampas of the Argentine Re- 
public are like. Beginning near the foothills of the 
Cordilleras, in their very shadow, as it were, these 
smoothed out, level lands extend hundreds of miles 
eastward to the great estuary of the Plate River, on 
the borders of the Atlantic Ocean. Though appar- 
ently sterile, the soil of the pampas, like the dry, baked 
land of Australia, only requires irrigation and culti- 
vation to rival the most attractive valleys of Southern 
Europe. It is believed by scientists that these plains 
were once covered by a broad inland sea, connected 
directly with the Atlantic. In their present condition 
these pampas can hardly be called barren, since they 
give excellent grazing for extensive herds of wild 
cattle, which thrive and fatten upon the abundance 
of coarse, natural grass, similar to what is known 
as bunch grass in Texas and New Mexico. This 
product ripens and makes itself into standing hay, 
retaining its natural vitality and nutritious qualities 
throughout months of atmospheric exposure. After 
being close-cropped by the roving herds of cattle, 
the bunch grass renews itself, reproducing in great 
abundance. 

Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, is situated on 
the remarkable estuary of the Plate River, — Rio de 
la Plata, or "Silver River," — whose spacious mouth 



ESTUARY OF THE PLATE. 223 

is marked by two capes, Santa Maria and San An- 
tonio, more than one hundred miles apart. Only a 
nautical observation will show just where the line of 
ocean ceases and that of the estuary begins. The 
unobservant passenger believes himself still sailing 
upon the broad ocean until he finally sights the land 
on which the city stands. The flag of Uruguay fly- 
ing from various crafts — blue and white, in alternate 
stripes, with a glowing sun in the upper corner near 
the staff — indicates the near approach to. the land it 
represents. 

On the island of Flores, fifteen miles from Monte- 
video, there are a lighthouse and quarantine station. 
The island is formed by a rocky upheaval, not over 
twenty feet above sea level, measuring about a mile in 
length and two or three hundred yards in width. The 
fierce pamperos render the navigation of this estuary 
oftentimes precarious. When approaching the broad 
river's mouth from the north, sailors know that it is 
near at hand, long before land is seen, by the color of 
the water, which comes forth in such immense volume 
as to impart a distinct yellow hue to the ocean for a 
long distance from the coast. This effect is said to be 
discernible one hundred miles off the shore, but thirty 
or forty miles will perhaps be nearer the truth, and 
is at the same time a statement answering all legit- 
imate purposes. The tide about the estuary is mostly 
governed by the wind, and so up the river, showing 
no regularity in its rise and fall. The current of the 
Plate opposite Montevideo runs at the rate of about 



224 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

three miles an hour. In extent, this ranks as the third 
great river of the world, draining, with its affluents, 
eight hundred thousand square miles of territory; a 
mammoth basin, which is only exceeded by those of 
the Amazon and the Mississippi. 

The commercial activity of the port is shown by the 
arrival and departure daily of many large steamships, 
foreign and coastwise. Sixty European steamers are 
recorded as arriving here monthly, besides a number 
from the United States. The maritime business of 
the port is mostly in the hands of Englishmen, Amer- 
icans, and Frenchmen. The native - born citizen 
evinces no genius in commercial matters. The de- 
partment of the capital is the smallest in the republic, 
having an area of only twenty -five square miles, but 
it is fertile, well wooded and watered, its agricultural 
interests predominating, which is a most important 
fact in estimating the stability and pecuniary respon- 
sibility of any state. 

The city is exceptionably well situated on a small 
rocky promontory, or rather we should designate it as 
a peninsula, jutting out into the estuary, three of its 
sides fronting the sea, and as its streets are nearly 
always swept by ocean breezes, it is cool and pleas- 
ant even in midsummer. The land rises gradually 
as it recedes from the shore, and then declines to the 
bed of a small stream which empties into the bay, 
thus affording a natural surface drainage. Uruguay 
is a little more than twelve times as large territo- 
rially as the State of Massachusetts, and is divided 



MONTEVIDEO. 225 

into thirteen departments. There are over half a 
million acres of land under good cultivation in the 
republic, the principal staples being wheat and corn. 
Extreme heat and extreme cold are alike unknown, 
the country being within the temperate zone. The 
mean summer temperature is 71° Fahr., that of au- 
tumn 62°, and of spring 60°. There are, therefore, 
but few things which the climate is too hot or too cold 
to produce, while for the raising of cattle on a large 
scale it is said to be the best section of South Amer- 
ica, and this forms, we believe, its largest industry. 

In approaching Montevideo from the sea, it is ob- 
served that the surrounding country is quite level, 
with scarcely a single object to break the distant view. 
Immediately upon landing one realizes that the city 
is clean and well built, though it is mostly made 
up of low structures one story in height. There are 
plenty of dwellings of two and three stories, however, 
in the more modern part of the town. Dominating the 
whole stand the lofty dome and towers of the cathe- 
dral, which faces the Plaza Constitution. The turrets 
are of striking proportions, each rising to the height 
of one hundred and thirty-three feet. The widespread 
dome would be grand in effect, were it not covered 
with glazed tiles of various colors, blue, green, yellow, 
and so on, the combined effect of which is anything but 
pleasing to a critical eye. Still, it is no more tawdry 
than much of the inside finish and meaningless orna- 
mentation. There is an elaborate marble fountain in 
the centre of the plaza, besides some ornamental shrub- 



226 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

bery and flowers. The very fine marble facade of the 
building occupied by the Uruguay Club adds to the 
beauty of the plaza. Near the fountain is a fanciful 
music stand, in which a military band is occasionally 
stationed to perform for the public pleasure. These 
South Americans would as soon give up the bull- 
fights as the popular outdoor evening concerts, the 
excellent moral effect of which no one can possibly 
doubt. 

An abrupt hill at the head of the harbor, four or 
five hundred feet in height, known as the "Monte," 
gives the city its name, Montevideo. This hill is 
crowned by a small fort and lighthouse, the latter 
containing a revolving light which can be seen a long 
distance at sea. A couple of miles inland rises an- 
other hill called the Cerrito, or "little hill." Several 
times during revolutionary struggles, these two hills 
have been fortified by opposing parties, who have de- 
sired to control the city, but restless revolutionists are 
now at a discount, fortunately, in this republic of 
Uruguay, a class of uneasy spirits who have reigned 
quite long enough on the southern continent. 

The town is built in the form of an amphitheatre, 
and has comparatively few edifices of importance. 
Its regular, straight streets and open squares are in- 
tensely Spanish. The Paseo del Molino is the fash- 
ionable part of the town, where the wealthy merchants 
reside in curious chalets, or quintets as they are called 
here. There is rather an extraordinary taste displayed 
in the matter of buildings on this Paseo. Swiss cot- 



DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE. 227 

tages, Italian villas, Chinese dwellings, and Gothic 
structures are mingled with Spanish and Moorish 
styles. This architectural incongruity is not pictur- 
esque, but, on the contrary, strikes one as very crude 
and ill-chosen. The charm of domestic residences in 
any part of the globe is a certain adaptability to the 
natural surroundings, and is, when well conceived, a 
graceful part of the whole. Inappropriate structures 
are to the eye like false notes in music to the ear, an 
outrage upon harmony. A Swiss chalet in Hindostan, 
or a Japanese bamboo house in England, is simply 
discordancy in scenic consistency. Nature should al- 
ways be a silent partner in the creation and adap- 
tation of architectural designs. In olden times the 
Jesuits built a large mill near this spot, and hence the 
name of the place. 

The climate must be very equable and fine to admit 
of such fruit culture as exists here. The strawberries 
grown in the neighborhood are famous for their size 
and sweetness, the vines producing this favorite fruit 
all the year round. They are perhaps a little over- 
developed, and would doubtless be of finer flavor if 
they were smaller. 

The Plaza de la Independencia is highly attractive, 
and so is the broad, tree-lined avenue known as the 
Calle del Dieziochavo de Julio, named after the anni- 
versary of the Uruguayan declaration of independence. 
This, indeed, is thought to be the most effective boule- 
vard in all South America. On festal occasions it is 
decorated in an original and brilliant manner, having 



228 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

colored draperies hanging from the windows and bal- 
conies, bright colored cambrics stretched from point 
to point, with the gay flag of the republic festooned 
here and there. Chinese lanterns are hung from the 
trees, and arches spanning the roadway and bearing 
national designs are all ablaze with ingeniously ar- 
ranged gas jets. Down one side of this long avenue 
and up the other, it being over a hundred feet broad, 
a civic and military procession marches on the annual 
recurrence of the date which its name indicates, the 
several divisions headed by bands of music, with flags 
flying and drums beating. On such occasions the win- 
dows and balconies are filled with groups of handsome 
women, in gala dresses, together with pretty children 
in holiday costumes, who add charm and completeness 
to the scene. This avenue is the Champs Elysees of 
the southern continent, a thoroughfare of which the 
residents are justly very proud. 

The streets and sidewalks generally are of better 
width in Montevideo than in most of the South Amer- 
ican cities. Some few of the private residences dis- 
play fine architectural taste, the dwellings being well 
adapted to the climate and the surroundings. Many 
of the city houses have little towers erected on their 
roofs, called miradores, from whence one gets an ex- 
cellent view of the entire city and of the sea. The 
town is spread over a large territory, and stretches 
away into thinly populated suburbs, but all parts are 
rendered accessible by the well - perfected system of 
tramways which extend over fifty miles within the 



POPULATION OF MONTEVIDEO. 229 

city and the immediate environs. In the absence of 
official figures, we should judge that Montevideo had 
a population of at least two hundred thousand. Every 
other nationality seems to be represented in its streets 
and warehouses, except that of Uruguay herself. 
Those "native and to the manner born " are conspicu- 
ous by their absence. Speaking of this rather curious 
characteristic to a friend who lives here, he replied : 
"There are probably fifty thousand European and 
North American residents doing business in this city, 
forming by far the most active element of the place. 
They are seen everywhere, to the apparent exclusion 
of the natives. Indigenous blood and energy could 
not have made this capital what it is at the present 
time. It is reaping the advantage of North American 
enterprise, English and American capital, and Ger- 
man shrewdness. These, combined with the natural 
advantages of the location and climate, will eventually 
make Montevideo the Liverpool of South America." 
Though all this goes without saying, our friend put it 
so aptly that his words were deemed worthy of record- 
ing. We do not hesitate to predict that the next dec- 
ade will nearly double the number of the population 
here, as well as the aggregate of its imports and ex- 
ports. No other city on the southern continent has 
greater advantages in its geographical position, or as 
regards salubrity of climate and adaptability to com- 
merce. Were it not for the occasional visits of the 
howling pamperos, the climate would be nearly per- 
fect, and even these exhibitions of a local nature are, 



230 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

as we have said, accepted with great equanimity by 
the people on land. There are few stoves, and no fire- 
places or chimneys, in Montevideo. Cooking is done 
with charcoal on braziers out-of-doors, as is the custom 
in most tropical countries. 

The capital of Uruguay contains the usual educa- 
tional and religious, charitable and scientific, public 
organizations, with appropriate edifices for the same. 
It should certainly be considered a reading community, 
having more daily newspapers than London, and 
double as many as the city of New York ; also support- 
ing a large number of weekly newspapers and monthly 
magazines. As to books, so far as a casual observer 
may speak, they are few and far between in family 
circles. The men read the newspapers, and the women 
fill up their leisure time with music and gossip. There 
is a national university in Montevideo, where over six 
hundred pupils are regularly taught at the present 
time, and there are forty-eight professors attached to 
this admirably organized institution. We heard it 
highly spoken of by those who should be good judges in 
educational matters. The custom house, with which 
the stranger always makes an early acquaintance after 
arriving in port, is a large and costly structure, three 
stories in height. The opera house is worthy of par- 
ticular mention, being a spacious building of the Doric 
order, capable of seating three thousand persons, and 
when it is filled at night, the interior presents a grand 
array of elegant costumes and female beauty, the ladies 
of this city being noted for their personal charms. 



THE BULL-FIGHT. 231 

This is a circumstance not mentioned casually as a 
mere compliment, but simply as a fact. The opera 
house covers an entire square, and has two large wings 
attached to the main building, one of which is devoted 
to business purposes, and the other contains the Na- 
tional Museum. There is here the nucleus of a most 
valuable collection, to which constant additions are 
being made, both by the state and through personal 
liberality and interest. We are sorry to say in this 
connection that the bull-fight, as a public exhibition, 
above all other styles of amusement, is the favorite one 
with the rank and file of the populace, which is quite 
sufficiently Spanish to control the matter and insure 
its permanency. The bull-ring, wherein these brutal 
and terribly demoralizing exhibitions take place on 
each Sabbath afternoon during the season, is situated 
about a league from the city proper. 

It must be a country or district under Roman Cath- 
olic influence, and with more or less of a Spanish ele- 
ment permeating it, to admit of this style of desecrat- 
ing the Sabbath, or, indeed, of indulging on any day 
of the week in an exhibition which is so thoroughly 
brutal, cowardly, and repulsive. It is a sad reflection 
upon the communitj r , high and low, to state that the 
bull-fight is one of its popular entertainments. We 
have said that this is a cowardly game. The fact is, 
the bull is doomed from the moment he enters the 
arena. He has only his horns and his courage to 
help him in the unequal contest. The professional 
fighters opposed to him are all fully armed, and pro- 



232 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

tected by sheltering guards, behind which they can 
retire at will. It is twelve experts pitted against 
one poor beast. Ingenious, heathenish modes of tor- 
ture are devised and adopted to wound, to weaken, 
and to craze the victim. If it was one armed man 
against the bull, whether mounted or otherwise, it 
would be a more equal and gallant struggle, — but 
twelve to one! bah, it is only a cowardly game in 
which gallant horses and brave bulls are sacrificed by 
a dozen armed men. Even the matadore, who gives 
the final and fatal thrust with his sword, and who is 
looked upon as a sort of hero by the spectators, does 
not enter the ring to attempt the act until the bull 
is comparatively harmless, having been worried and 
wounded until he is exhausted by the struggle and the 
copious loss of blood, so that he is scarcely able to 
stand. Though reeling like a drunken man, he stag- 
gers bravely towards his fresh and well-armed enemy, 
showing fight to the last gasp. 

Realize the moral effect of such cut-throat exhibi- 
tions upon youth ! The older, cruel and hardened 
spectators are only rendered more so, but the young 
and impressionable are then and there inoculated with 
a love of brutality and bloodshed, fostered by every 
fresh exhibition which they witness. 

The Exchange is a grand and spacious structure, 
admirably adapted to its purpose, being one of the 
finest business edifices in South America, to our mind 
infinitely superior in all respects to that of Rio, upon 
which so much money has been expended in meretri- 



EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS. 233 

cious designs. The author counted the names of some 
forty charitable institutions and associations in a 
Montevideo directory, eight or ten of which are main- 
tained mostly by public endowment, such as hospitals, 
asylums for the poor, orphanages, industrial schools, 
lunatic asylums, and so on. Near the Plaza Kamirez 
there is a school of arts and trades, which at this writ- 
ing accommodates a large body of pupils, taught by 
competent professors and experts. We were told that 
this institution was of great practical service in the 
cause of education, its general aim being similar to 
that of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 
One was hardly prepared to credit Montevideo with 
so many and well-sustained educational purposes as 
she was found to be justly entitled to. The reader 
will observe that we speak qualifiedly of these mat- 
ters ; it is only the outward and most obvious charac- 
teristics of a city, so briefly visited, of which one can 
speak correctly. It would have been gratifying to 
have remained longer in this capital, to understand 
more clearly the educational advantages which are 
offered here. In this department of progress, Mon- 
tevideo seems in advance of many larger cities. 

Squads of soldiers are seen lounging about the town, 
dressed in a uniform of the Zouave pattern, not very 
jaunty looking fellows, it must be confessed, but per- 
haps "as good food for powder as a better." The en- 
tire army of Uruguay consists of only five thousand 
men, of all branches. The president has also a bat- 
talion of body-guards, consisting of three or four hun- 



234 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

dred men, forming a very efficient as well as ornamen- 
tal organization. This organization consists of men 
loyal to the administration, and beyond a doubt per- 
sonally devoted to the president. The rank and file 
of the army embraces all shades of color, both as to 
mind and body, and is liable to become disaffected at 
the outbreak of any popular upheaval, or through the 
influence of designing men. This body-guard, how- 
ever, being always on duty, is ready and able to 
turn the scale by prompt and consistent action, in fa- 
vor of the established authorities, and thus nip rebel- 
lion in the bud. It is only after getting thoroughly 
under way that revolutionary attempts become formi- 
dable. At the inception, the strong arm promptly ap- 
plied stamps out the life and courage of the mob, and 
renders sedition futile. " No parleying ; fire promptly, 
and fire to kill; that ends the matter," said Napoleon. 
Blank cartridges and vacillation stimulate a half- 
formed purpose into action. 

One is forced to admit that beggars are rather nu- 
merous in Montevideo, ■ — beggars on horseback and 
wearing spurs. They coolly stop their small, wiry, 
half -fed ponies, and with magnificent effrontery beg 
of any stranger they chance to meet for a centavo, 
a copper coin worth about two cents of our American 
money. The incongruity of beggars mounted, while 
the stranger of whom they solicit alms is a pedestrian, 
is somewhat obvious. It must be remembered, how- 
ever, that horses are very cheap in this country, and 
that nearly every one rides or drives. A good ser- 



CHEAP HORSES. 235 

viceable animal can be bought in any of the South 
American cities at what we should consider a mere 
trifle to pay for one. A well-broken young saddle- 
horse will bring from twenty to twenty-five dollars, 
but the owner, if one of the dudes about town, will 
expend five hundred dollars upon a silver-decked sad- 
dle, bridle, and trimmings, a Spanish peculiarity 
which is also observed in the city of Mexico. A pair 
of well-matched carriage-horses, in good condition, 
can be had for seventy -five or eighty dollars. Mares 
are not worked in this country, being solely used for 
breeding purposes, and have no fixed price ; indeed, 
they are not met with in the cities. It will be seen 
that for a beggar to set up business here requires some 
capital, but not much. De Quincey would describe 
Spanish beggary as having become elevated to one of 
the fine arts. 

There is a class of men in Uruguay called gauchos 
who devote themselves to breaking the wild horses of 
the pampas for domestic use. They are more Indian 
than Spanish, and pass their lives mostly as herds- 
men of the vast numbers of animals which live in a 
semi-wild state upon the plains of South America. 
These men can hardly be said to train their horses. 
They only conquer them by a process of cruel disci- 
pline which thoroughly subdues the animal. After 
this the poor creatures are ever on the alert to obey 
their rider's will, prompted by a pressure of the pow- 
erful bit, and a merciless thrust of the long, sharp 
rowels. The gaucho reminds one of the cowboys of 



236 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

our Western States. He forms a .very picturesque fig- 
ure when seen upon his wiry little mustang, galloping 
along with his yellow poncho streaming behind him, 
his head covered by a broad-brimmed soft felt hat, his 
long, dark hair floating upon the breeze, and his 
broad, loose trousers fluttering in the wind. A lasso 
of braided or twisted leather sometimes swings from 
one hand, while the rider skillfully manages his horse 
with the other. Altogether the gaucho forms a pic- 
ture of strong vitality and vivid color. He spends 
a small fortune upon his equipments, and his heavy 
spurs are of solid silver. He is not a hard drinker, 
an occasional glass of country wine satisfies him ; but 
he will gamble all night long until he has lost his last 
penny to professional sportsmen, who somehow know 
the way to win by fair means or foul. 

Few strangers who visit Montevideo for the first 
time will be at all prepared to see such a quantity 
and variety of rich jewelry in the shops. Imported 
dress goods of the finest quality are also offered for 
sale in these shops. The Parisian boulevards have 
no display windows which contain larger or finer dia- 
monds, sapphires, and emeralds; indeed, this country 
seems to be the home of precious stones and real 
gems. The silversmiths exhibit goods equally artistic 
and elegant. The best products of Vienna, Paris, 
and London, in the fancy-goods line, are fully repre- 
sented here. Headers who have visited Genoa will 
recall the fine silver filigree-work which is a specialty 
of that city, but some of the manufactures of this char- 



INFLUENCE OF INTOXICANTS. 237 

acter made here are quite equal, if they do not excel, 
that of the Italian capital. 

It seemed to be rather a singular and significant 
fact, that when a couple of pennies will purchase a 
tumblerful of the national tipple called cana, a raw 
liquor made from sugar-cane, and quite as strong as 
brandy, still comparatively few persons are seen under 
its influence upon the public streets. It is true that 
on all church festal occasions the common people have 
a regular carousal, and get very much intoxicated, 
whereupon they lose one day in repenting and two in 
recuperation. It is the same all over the world. The 
lower, uneducated classes, having no intellectual re- 
sort, seem imbued with the idea that to get thoroughly 
tipsy is the acme of pleasure. The inevitable punish- 
ment does not enter into the calculation at all, nor 
does it deter the victim from repeated excesses. It is 
curious to observe the peculiar effect which intoxi- 
cants produce upon people of different nationalities : 
the Russian gets boozy on vodka, and only becomes 
more loving to his species ; the Mexican drinks pulque 
by the pint measure, and craves only to be permitted 
to sleep; the French guzzle brandy and wine until 
they become equally full of song and gayety; the 
American Indian is made utterly crazy and reckless 
by drink ; the Irishman finds a fight in every glass of 
whiskey ; and the Englishman who indulges overmuch 
becomes eloquent on politics and patriotism. In South 
America the common people who drink to excess are 
rendered pugnacious and revolutionary. The police 



238 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

arrangements of Montevideo are excellent, and the 
streets are safe for man or woman at any hour of the 
day or night, which one is forced to admit is more 
than can be truthfully said of the majority of large 
cities in either Europe or North America. There is 
no sickly sentimentality about crime and criminals 
here. If a man outrages the law, he has to suffer for 
it, and there is no pardoning him until he has worked 
out his entire penalty. It is the certainty of punish- 
ment which intimidates professional rascals. Official 
leniency and pardoning of criminals are a premium 
on crime. 

Between two and three miles from the city there is 
a public park, which is laid out with excellent taste 
and skill, forming a popular pleasure resort. There 
are here many fine native and exotic trees, as well as 
flowering shrubs and blooming flowers. This spacious 
park, intersected by a willow-lined stream, is called 
the Paseo, and is ornamented with statues, fountains, 
and rockeries. The grounds are also occupied by sev- 
eral small places devoted to amusements, shooting- 
galleries, billiard saloons, and gambling tables, very 
similar to the Deer Garden in the environs of Copen- 
hagen. Citizens of Montevideo of the humbler class 
come hither with their families, bringing food and 
drink to be disposed of in picnic fashion. Bordering 
the sweep of the bay, which forms the harbor, are 
many cottages, the homes of the rich merchants. 
These villas are surrounded by flower gardens and 
graceful shrubbery, the endless spring climate making 



THE CAMPO SANTO. 239 

the bloom perennial. The flat roofs of many of the 
town houses are partially inclosed, so as to form a 
pleasant resort in the closing hours of the day, where 
family parties are often seen gathered together. So- 
cial life among the residents of the environs is very 
gay, and so indeed is that of the town residents, whose 
hospitality is also proverbial. The Hotel Oriental is 
the favorite hostelry of Montevideo, built of marble 
and well furnished, though it is hardly equal to the 
Hotel Victoria, its rival, architecturally speaking. 

The drinking water, and all that is used for domes- 
tic purposes in the city, is brought by a well-engi- 
neered system from the river Santa Lucia, which is 
tapped for this purpose at a distance of thirty or forty 
miles from Montevideo. 

The Campo Santo of the capital is admirably ar- 
ranged and particularly well kept, being in several 
respects like those of Pisa, Genoa, and other Italian 
cities. It is the most elaborate cemetery in South 
America, surrounded by high walls so built as to con- 
tain five tiers of niches which form the receptacles for 
the dead. The grounds are nearly as crowded with 
elaborate tombs and stone monuments as Pere la 
Chaise, at Paris, the funereal cypress rising here and 
there in stately mournfulness above the marble slabs. 
The abundance of metallic wreaths and artificial flowers 
afforded another resemblance to the famous French 
cemetery. The freshness of many of the floral offer- 
ings showed that the memory of the departed was 
kept green in the hearts of those left behind. The 



240 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

traveler sees many such touching evidences of tender- 
ness all over the world. Much of the marble work 
seen in these grounds was imported from Milan, and 
some from both Florence and Rome. The monumen- 
tal entrance to the grounds, and the elaborate chapel 
within them, are both in good taste. 

Beef, hides, wool, hair, and grain seem to be the 
principal articles of export. Uruguay contains over 
hali a million of people, and has an area of seventy- 
one thousand square miles, intersected by several rail- 
ways, bringing the interior within easy reach of the 
capital. It is said to be growing more rapidly in 
proportion to its size and the present number of 
inhabitants than any other part of South America. 
The republic is best known to the world by its Indian 
name, Uruguay, but on many maps it is still desig- 
nated as the Banda Oriental, that is, the "Eastern 
Border." It will be remembered that this now inde- 
pendent state was originally a part of the Argentine 
Republic, which was formerly known by that designa- 
tion. Though Uruguay is one of the smallest of the 
independent divisions of the continent, it is yet one of 
the most important, a fact owing largely to its admi- 
rable commercial location. Nearly all of its territory 
can be reached by navigable rivers, while its Atlantic 
shore has a dozen good harbors. Sixteen large rivers 
intersect the republic in various directions, all of 
which have their several tributaries. Cheap internal 
transportation is assured by over three hundred miles 
of railways ; also by these rivers. As already inti- 



INTELLIGENT FARMING. 241 

mated, its agricultural interests are largely on the 
increase, the strongest element of permanency. Ori- 
ginally the pastoral interest prevailed over all other, 
but agriculture, both here and in the Argentine Re- 
public, has taken precedence. The model farms near 
Montevideo are unsurpassed for extent, completeness, 
and the liberal manner in which they are conducted. 
Some large estates might be named which will compare 
favorably with anything of the sort which the author 
has ever seen in any country, where agriculture is fol- 
lowed on intelligent principles. Here the cultivation 
of the soil is carried on not solely to obtain all which 
can be wrung from it, in the way of pecuniary profit, 
but con amore, and with a due regard to system. As 
may be supposed, the return is fully commensurate 
with the intelligence and liberality exercised in the 
business. Such farming may be and is called fancy 
farming, but it is a sort which pays most liberally, 
and which affords those engaged in it the most satis- 
faction. 

To be an honest chronicler, one must not hesitate to 
look at all phases of progress, successful or otherwise, 
on the part of each people and country visited and 
written about. There are always deep-lying influences 
acting for good or evil, which scarcely present them- 
selves to the thoughtless observer. 

One reason for the rapid growth of this republic of 
Uruguay is because of its gradually casting off the 
slough of Roman Catholic influence, a species of dry 
rot quite sufficient to bring about the destruction of 



242 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

any government. The same incubus which was of so 
long standing in Mexico, where its effect kept the 
people in ignorance and ferment for centuries, has at 
last been abolished, and modern progress naturally 
follows. In Uruguay the Romish Church has lost 
its prestige, having hastened its own downfall by 
blindly striving to enforce fifteenth century ideas upon 
people of the nineteenth. Monks and nuns have been 
expelled, and parish schools have been closed. Free 
schools now prevail, and general knowledge is becom- 
ing broadcast, which simply means destruction to all 
popish control. Intelligence is the antidote for big- 
otry, which explains the bitter opposition of the 
Roman Catholic priesthood to free schools wherever 
their faith prevails. 

In all of these South American provinces it has been 
found difficult to throw off the evil inheritance of sloth 
and anarchy which the Spaniards imposed upon their 
colonial possessions. The schoolhouse is the true 
temple of liberty for this people. In the department 
of Montevideo alone there are to-day over sixty free 
schools, and in the whole republic nearly four hun- 
dred, something for her authorities to point at with 
a spirit of just pride. This enumeration does not 
include the private schools, of which there are also 
a large number in the capital. 

We find by published statistics that Uruguay ex- 
ports of wool, about seven million dollars' worth per 
annum; of beef, over six million dollars' worth; of 
hides, four million dollars' worth; and of wheat about 



EXPORTS. 243 

the same amount in value as that of the last article 
named. These staples, however, are only representa- 
tive articles, to which many more might be added, to 
show her growing commercial importance and assured 
prosperity. 

Our next stopping-place is the important city of 
Buenos Ayres, on the opposite bank of the river, 
about one hundred and fifty miles southwest of Mon- 
tevideo. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Buenos Ayres. — Extent of the Argentine Republic. — Population. — 
Narrow Streets. — Large Public Squares. — Basques. — Poor Har- 
bor. — Railway System. — River Navigation. — Tramways. — The 
Cathedral. — Normal Schools. — Newspapers. — Public Buildings. 
— Calle Florida. — A Busy City. — Mode of furnishing Milk. — 
Environs. — Commercial and Political Growth. — The New Capital. 

The city of Buenos Ayres — "Good Air " — is well 
named so far as its natural situation is concerned, but 
this condition of a pure atmosphere has been seriously 
affected by unsanitary conditions, naturally arising 
from the large influx of a very promiscuous popula- 
tion. A considerable percentage are Italians, and so 
far as personal cleanliness and decency go, they seem 
to be among the lost arts with them. 

This thriving city is the capital of the Argentine 
Republic, which, next to Brazil, is the largest inde- 
pendent state in South America, containing fourteen 
provinces, each of which has its own local government, 
modeled after those of the United States. The aver- 
age reader will doubtless be surprised, as the author 
certainly was, to realize that this southern republic ex- 
ceeds in extent of territory the united kingdoms of 
Great Britain, together with France, Germany, Aus- 
tria, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Hol- 
land, and Greece combined, the actual area being 



POPULATION. 245 

something over twelve hundred thousand square miles. 
The province of Buenos Ayres is just about the size 
of the State of New York, and contains in round num- 
bers a population of one million. Two hundred years 
ago, the city of Buenos Ayres had a population of five 
hundred. Having the statistics at hand, it is perhaps 
worth while to state that, of the aggregate population 
of the province, a majority, or fully six hundred thou- 
sand, are foreigners, classed as follows: three hun- 
dred thousand Italians, one hundred and fifty thousand 
French, one hundred thousand Spaniards, forty thou- 
sand English, and twenty thousand Germans. The 
number of North American residents is very small, 
though they control a fair percentage of the exports 
and imports. Authentic statistics show that they num- 
ber less than six hundred. Paris is not more crowded 
with refugees from various countries than is this Ar- 
gentine capital. Why such a spot was selected on 
which to establish a commercial city is an unsolved 
riddle, as it embraces about all the natural inconven- 
iences that could possibly be encountered on the banks 
of a large river. The perversity of such a selection 
is the more obvious, because those who made it must 
have passed by a score of admirable points eminently 
superior in all respects to the one now occupied. 

The first view of Buenos Ayres on approaching it by 
water is peculiar, the line of sight being only broken 
by the church towers and a few prominent public build- 
ings ; the horizon alone forms the background of the 
picture. Unlike nearly all of the South American 



246 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

cities, there is no forest or mountain range behind or 
surrounding the capital. From its environs a con- 
tinuous plain stretches away for nearly eight hundred 
miles to the foothills of the Andes. Situated be- 
tween the 34° and 35° of south latitude, it enjoys a 
climate similar to that of the south of France, and al- 
most identical with that of New Orleans. The site 
upon which the city stands is considerably above the 
level of the river, and though the streets are far too 
narrow for business purposes in the older portions of 
the town, they widen to a better size in the newer 
parts. The roadways are poorly paved, so that it is 
very uncomfortable to walk or drive over them. 
Boulevards are laid out to cut the older parts of the 
city diagonally, as was done in Paris and Genoa, and 
is now being done in Florence, so as to relieve the 
present insufficient capacity for the transportation of 
merchandise. One is apt, however, when remarking 
upon these particularly narrow and irregular streets 
in a foreign country, to forget that there are, in the 
older portions of the capital of Massachusetts, some 
quite as circumscribed and corkscrew fashioned. If 
we do not find all the excellences of civilization pre- 
dominating, and admirable people in the majority 
here, we should do well to remember that we have also 
left them in the minority at home. 

The huge custom house of Buenos Ayres, with 
its circular form and high walls facing the river, re- 
calls in general appearance Castle Garden in New 
York harbor, or the fort on Governor's Island. In 



CITY MONUMENTS. 247 

its importance as a commercial emporium, this city 
disputes the first place with only three others in the 
southern hemisphere, namely, Rio Janeiro, Sydney, 
and Melbourne, the latter of which has lately added 
greatly to its harbor facilities by deepening and wid- 
ening the Yarra-Yarra River. 

The dwelling-houses of Buenos Ayres are mostly 
built of brick, and are of a far more substantial char- 
acter than those upon the west coast of the continent. 
They have much more the appearance of North Amer- 
ican dwellings than Spanish, except that the windows 
are strongly guarded with iron bars, and the cool, 
shady patios present domestic scenes, mingled with 
flowers and fragrance, strongly local in color. The 
city is regularly laid out in squares of a hundred and 
fifty yards each, so when one is told that such or such 
a place is so many squares away, he knows exactly the 
distance which is indicated. The Plaza de la Victoria 
is surrounded by handsome edifices, including the 
opera house and the cathedral, the facade of the lat- 
ter very much resembling that of the Madeleine at 
Paris. This square has a fine equestrian statue of some 
patriot, and a small column commemorating a national 
event. The city has a population equaling that of 
Boston in number, and we do not hesitate to say that 
it is more noted for its enterprise and general progress 
than any other of the South American cities. It has 
been appropriately called the Chicago of the southern 
continent. The republic, of which it is the principal 
city, has seven thousand miles of telegraphic wire 



248 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

within its area, a tangible evidence of enterprise which 
requires no comment. One remarkable line connects 
this city with that of Valparaiso, on the Pacific side 
of the continent, and is constructed with iron poles 
nearly the whole distance, crossing the Andes by 
means of forty miles of cable laid beneath the perpet- 
ual snows! 

It may well be supposed that the inhabitants of 
Buenos Ayres are of a cosmopolitan character, when 
it is known that the daily newspapers are issued in 
five different languages. As shown by the statistics 
already given, a considerable share of the people are 
Italians, who form much the larger portion of the emi- 
grants now coming hither from Europe, or who have 
arrived here during the last decade. As additions to 
the population, they form a more desirable class, in 
many respects, than those who seek homes further 
north. After the Italians, the Basques are among the 
most numerous of the new-comers. There are over 
fifty thousand of this people settled in the province of 
Buenos Ayres alone, readily adapting themselves to 
the country. They are a strongly individualized race, 
whom no one is liable to mistake for any other. They 
maintain in a great measure the picturesque style of 
dress which prevails in their native land, no matter 
what their vocation may be here. As a rule, the 
Basques come with their families, bringing some mod- 
erate amount of pecuniary means with them, and at 
once devote themselves to agricultural pursuits. They 
take especially to the department of the dairy, making 



A POOR HARBOR. 249 

butter and cheese of excellent quality, for which they 
find a ready city market. They have a natural incli- 
nation towards cattle tending, and are looked upon by 
the authorities as among the very best of European 
emigrants. To promote this immigration to Argen- 
tina, a per capita premium has been paid heretofore 
by the government, who, indeed, are still ready to fur- 
nish a free passage for responsible emigrants, both of 
this and other nationalities. This generous offer has 
been so shamefully abused by the beggars, lazzaroni, 
and criminal classes of Naples and Sicily, that a check 
has necessarily been put upon it, particularly as re- 
gards the generally objectionable people of Sicily. 

As a shipping port, Montevideo has a decided 
advantage over this Argentine metropolis. Large 
steamers are obliged to anchor eight or ten miles, or 
even more, below the city, on account of the shallow- 
ness of the river at this point. A channel has been 
opened to facilitate the approach of vessels of moder- 
ate tonnage, but much yet remains to be done before 
the experiment will be of any practical advantage. 
Tugboats land passengers on the quay, who arrive by 
the large mail steamers. Vessels of not over twenty- 
five hundred tons can lie at the shore and land their 
cargoes by means of the limited conveniences of the 
new dock. One would think that this want of harbor 
facilities was an insuperable objection and impediment 
in the growth of a great commercial capital, but Bue- 
nos Ayres goes straight onward, progressing in wealth 
and business, apparently regardless of such disadvan- 



250 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

tages. The present aggregate of its imports, in round 
numbers, is one hundred million dollars per annum. 

Even to-day, while resting under so serious a finan- 
cial cloud, with her credit at the lowest ebb, and so 
many of her lately wealthy merchants in bankruptcy, 
the city has a certain steady, normal growth, which it 
would appear that nothing can seriously impair. As 
we have intimated, the tide of immigration has been 
checked, though not entirely stopped, by the depressed 
financial and business condition of the country; still, 
in one closing month of the last year, October, 1891, 
over two thousand passengers arrived by steamship in 
Argentina, seeking new and permanent homes. 

When a pampero is blowing, it sometimes forces 
nearly all of the water out of the harbor, leaving it 
high and dry, so to speak, though the river is thirty 
miles in width opposite Buenos Ayres. Passengers, 
baggage, and freight have in the past often been 
landed by means of horse carts, hung on high wheels, 
and driven out into the water to such a depth as would 
float small boats and lighters. Indeed, this was for 
many years the common mode of landing freight and 
passengers at Buenos Ayres. Two long and narrow 
piers which have been built partially obviate the ne- 
cessity of employing carts, unless the water becomes 
very low. It has been said in all seriousness, and we 
believe it to be true, that the cost of landing a cargo of 
merchandise at Buenos Ayres has often been as great 
as the freight by vessel from New York, Liverpool, 
or Boston. 






RAILROADS. 251 

To construct a suitable harbor here for commercial 
purposes is a project attended by almost insurmount- 
able difficulties, but the attempt is gradually being 
made. The water in front of the city is not only 
shallow, but the bottom is extremely hard, while the 
increase of depth down the river is so little that it 
would involve the dredging of soil for a distance of ten 
miles, together with an indefinite width. It is very 
doubtful if a channel in such a situation, liable to con- 
stant changes, could be effectually established and 
maintained at any cost. The city does not depend 
upon its foreign commerce alone for business, having 
a boundless and productive territory in its rear, of 
which it will always be the commercial capital. It is 
already a great railway centre, the republic having 
over seven thousand miles of iron and steel rails within 
its borders. Five railways radiate from Buenos 
Ayres at this writing, and a sixth is projected. One 
route has been surveyed with the idea of connecting 
this city direct with Valparaiso, the distance between 
the two capitals being about nine hundred miles. It 
is designed to take advantage of the road already com- 
pleted to Mendoza, from whence the addition would 
cross the Cordilleras at a height of ten thousand feet, 
and pass through several tunnels, one of which would 
be two miles long. 

It should also be remembered, while on this sub- 
ject of transportation facilities, that the Parana River 
is navigable for light draught steamers two thousand 
miles inland from Buenos Ayres, into and through 



252 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

one of the most productive valleys in the world. 
From Montevideo to Point Piedras, the river is uni- 
formly sixty miles wide, and at Buenos Ayres it has 
only narrowed to about half this distance. The two 
main rivers which form the Plate are the Uruguay and 
the Parana, which in turn unite to form the grand es- 
tuary called Rio de la Plata. 

The city of Buenos Ayres has about as many miles 
of tramway as there are in Boston. The various 
routes are well managed, and afford an infinite amount 
of popular accommodation. This service is carried on 
by six different companies. It is not in the hands of 
one big monopoly, as with us in Boston. Competition 
in undoubtedly best for the public good, but the busi- 
ness can be more advantageously conducted by a sin- 
gle company. Experience has shown, however, that 
such a franchise is liable to great abuse in the hands 
of a corporation having no rivalry to fear. 

The citizens suffered long and patiently for want of 
good water for drinking and domestic purposes. This 
trouble has been partially obviated for a considerable 
time by the establishment of extensive water-works, 
but they are not adequate to the demand. The means 
for obtaining a new and additional supply are now 
under consideration. A system of drainage has also 
been constructed, which was fully as much of a neces- 
sity as the supply of water, but which, as usual, 
proves to be insufficient in capacity to perform the 
necessary work, — at least it but partially meets the 
requirements for which it was designed. People grow 



THE PLAZA VICTORIA. 253 

hardened by association with danger, but the impor- 
tance of good and sufficient drainage for a capital in 
which malarial fevers prevail hardly requires argu- 
ment. 

Unlike nearly all of the South American cities, 
Buenos Ayres has no Plaza Mayor, or public square, 
as a grand business and pleasure resort, a central 
point, par excellence, designed also for the recreation of 
the general public. There are, however, several spa- 
cious squares, quite large enough to represent such an 
idea, — nine or ten of them in fact, all of which are 
surrounded by fine buildings. The Plaza Victoria, 
for instance, already referred to, is some eight acres 
in extent, made brilliant at night by electric lights, 
which supplement the old style of gas-burners. The 
government house, the Palace of Justice, the cathe- 
dral, and other effective buildings front upon the 
Plaza Victoria. Eight or ten of the principal streets 
converge here, and this point is also the place of de- 
parture for several lines of tram-cars. The cathe- 
dral is in the Grecian style, the portico supported 
by twelve Corinthian columns, composed of brick, 
mortar, and stucco, but the general effect is the same 
as though each pillar was a monolith. The edifice is 
capable of containing eight or ten thousand people at 
a time, being equal in size and architectural effect to 
any ecclesiastical establishment on the continent. As 
this cathedral is a very remarkable one in many re- 
spects, we devote more than usual space to its descrip- 
tion. It was rebuilt by the Jesuits in the seventeenth 



254 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

century, but was originally founded in 1580, and is 
not much inferior to St. Paul's, London, as the follow- 
ing dimensions will show. It is two hundred and sev- 
enty feet long by one hundred and fifty in width, hav- 
ing an area of forty-five hundred square rods, and 
stands next in size to Notre Dame, Paris. The inte- 
rior of this immense building, with its twelve side 
chapels, is dark, dingy, and dirty, while the want of 
ventilation renders the air within foul and offensive. 
It is only on some rare festal occasions that an audi- 
ence at all adequate to occupy its great capacity is 
seen within its walls. A hundred persons do not seem 
like more than a dozen in such a place. Less than a 
thousand only serve to emphasize its loneliness. One 
sees a few women, but scarcely any men, present on 
ordinary occasions. The latter are content to stand 
about the outer doors and watch the former when they 
come from morning mass, or the ordinary Sabbath ser- 
vices. Here, as in Havana, Seville, and Madrid, the 
Spanish ladies, who lead a secluded home life, under 
a half oriental restraint imposed by custom inherited 
from the ancient Moorish rule in continental Spain, 
do not resent being stared at when in the streets. 
Probably this is the main attraction which draws most 
of the senors and senoritas to the church services, 
though undoubtedly many of them are devout and sin- 
cere in the outward services which they perform. At 
least, let us give them the benefit of such a conclusion. 
The national religion of Argentina is that of the 
Roman Catholic Church, but the power of the priest- 



NORMAL SCHOOLS. 255 

hood is strictly confined to ecclesiastical affairs, as in 
Uruguay. Absolute religious freedom may be said 
to exist here. No religious processions or church pa- 
rades are permitted in the public streets. This used to 
be very different in times past, almost every other day 
in the Romish calendar being some saint's day, and it 
was the custom to make the most of these occasions by 
elaborate parades and gorgeous display. Besides some 
twenty -four Roman Catholic churches and chapels, 
there are a score presided over by Protestants of va- 
rious denominations, — Episcopal, Presbyterian, Lu- 
theran, Methodist, and so on. There is, as we were 
informed, a large and growing Protestant constituency 
in the city. 

It should be mentioned very much to her credit that 
Buenos Ayres has supported, since 1872, a series of 
normal schools, in which regular courses of three 
years' training are given to persons desiring to fit 
themselves to become school-teachers. To assist those 
wishing to avail themselves of these advantages, the 
government appropriates a certain sum of money, 
and those persons who receive this public aid bind 
themselves, in consideration of the same, to teach on 
specific terms in the free schools for a period of three 
years. There are quite a number of North American 
ladies employed in these schools, throughout the sev- 
eral districts of Argentina, receiving a liberal com- 
pensation therefor, and commanding a high degree of 
respect. The University of Buenos Ayres, with about 
fifty professors and some eight hundred students, 



256 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

stands at the head of the national system of education. 
It was founded in 1821, having classical, law, medi- 
cal, and physical departments. There are also four 
military schools, two for the army and two for the 
navy. 

Buenos Ayres has more daily papers published 
within its precincts than either Boston or New York. 
It has several elegant marble structures devoted to 
the banking business, generally holding large capitals, 
though the financial condition of several of them at 
this writing is simply that of bankruptcy. This ap- 
plies mainly to the state banks. There are here an 
orphanage, a deaf and dumb asylum, four public hos- 
pitals, and two libraries : the National Library con- 
taining some seventy thousand volumes, the Popular 
Library having fifty thousand. There is also a free 
art school, together with public and private schools of 
all grades. Last to be named, but by no means least 
in importance, the city has a number of fairly good 
hotels and restaurants, the latter much superior to the 
former. Hotels are not only a strong indication of 
the social refinement of a people, or of the want of it, 
but they are of great importance as regards the com- 
mercial prosperity of a large community. Travelers 
who are made comfortable in these temporary homes 
remain longer in a city than they would otherwise, 
spend more money there, and are apt to come again. 
If, on the contrary, the hotel accommodations are 
poor, travelers complain of them, and strangers avoid 
a city where they are liable to be rendered needlessly 



POOR HOTELS. 257 

uncomfortable in this respect. Rio Janeiro is a not- 
able instance in hand, a city whose hotels we con- 
scientiously advise the traveler to avoid. 

We well remember, at the great caravansary in Cal- 
cutta, the only hotel there of any size or pretension, 
that a party of five Englishmen and five Americans, 
who had come from Madras with the purpose of pass- 
ing a fortnight in the former city, shortened their 
stay one half, simply because the hotel was so wretch- 
edly kept, the accommodations were so abominably 
poor, and the discomforts so numerous. Let us put 
this idea in mercenary form. Ten guests, expending 
at least eight dollars each per day, curtailed their visit 
seven days. It is safe to say that they would have 
left six hundred dollars more in Calcutta had they 
been comfortably lodged, than they did under the cir- 
cumstances. 

We should not omit to mention the Commercial 
Exchange, in speaking of the public buildings of 
Buenos Ayres. It is a fine, large, modern structure, 
admirably adapted to the purpose for which it is 
designed. Until within a year, the edifice in Boston 
applied to the same purpose would not compare with 
that of this South American capital. 

There is no dullness or torpor in this city. All is 
stir and bustle. Life and business are rampant, and 
yet, strange to say, no one seems to be in any special 
hurry. Everything is done in a leisurely manner. 
The number of handsome stores and the elegance of 
the goods displayed in them are remarkable, while the 



258 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

annual amount of sales in these establishments rivals 
that of some of our most popular New York and 
Boston concerns in similar lines of business. One 
may count forty first-class jewelry establishments in 
a short walk about town. There is hardly a more 
attractive display in this line either in Paris or London. 
Diamonds and precious stones of all descriptions daz- 
zle the eye and captivate the fancy. The Calle Flo- 
rida is one of the most fashionable thoroughfares, and 
presents in the afterpart of the day a very gay and 
striking picture of local life, a large element being 
composed of handsome women, attended by gayly 
dressed nurses, in charge of lovely children wearing 
fancy costumes. The young boys affect naval styles, 
and their little sisters wear marvelously broad Roman 
scarfs, and have their feet encased in dainty buff slip- 
pers. What pleasing domestic pictures they suggest 
to the eye of a restless wanderer ! 

On account of the narrowness of the streets, there 
is but one line of rails laid for the tramway service, 
so that a person goes out of town, say to Palermo, 
by one system of streets and returns by another. 
These cars move rapidly. A considerable distance is 
covered in a brief time, the motive power being small 
horses. An almost continuous line of cars, with 
scarcely a break, is passing any given point from early 
morning until night, and the citizens are liberal pa- 
trons of them. We saw some statistics relating to the 
number of persons carried by the tramways of this 
city annually, which were simply amazing, and which 



PLAZA RE TIRO. 259 

would make the management of the West End Kail- 
way of Boston "grow green with jealousy, or pallid 
with despair." Of course all this has been tempora- 
rily affected by the present financial crisis. As we 
have tried to show, Buenos Ayres is a wonderfully 
busy city, in which respect it resembles our own coun- 
try much more than it does the average capitals of 
the south. There is none of the visible languor and 
spirit of delay which usually strikes one in tropical 
centres. People get up in the morning wide awake, 
and go promptly to business. There is no closing of 
the shops at midday here, as there is in Havana, 
Santiago, the capital of Chili, or some of the Mexican 
cities, so that clerks may absent themselves for dinner 
or to enjoy a siesta. A much more convenient course 
for both clerks and patrons is adopted, which does 
not block the wheels of trade. The idea of clos- 
ing stores at midday to steal a couple of hours for 
eating and sleeping is a bit of Rip Van Winkleism 
entirely unworthy of the go-ahead spirit of the nine- 
teenth century. 

The Plaza Retiro is as large as the Plaza Victoria, 
and occupies the spot where in old Spanish days the 
hateful exhibitions of the bull-fights were given. In- 
deed, this square was formerly known as the Plaza 
de Toros. Many historical interests hang about the 
locality, around which the rich merchants of the city 
have erected some palatial residences, faced to a 
certain height with marble on the outside. These 
domestic retreats have courtyards constructed one 



260 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

beyond another, covering a considerable depth, and 
forming a series of patios, each appropriated to some 
special domestic use, — the dining court, the recep- 
tion court, and the nursery. In this square, and also 
in the Plaza Victoria, there are always plenty of 
hackney coaches to be found awaiting hire, and it 
should be remarked that charges are very reasonable 
for this service in Buenos Ayres. 

There are thirteen theatres in the city, and an admi- 
rable museum. The latter, rich in antiquities, is noted 
for its prehistoric remains of animals which once lived 
in the southern part of this continent, but whose spe- 
cies have long been extinct. This particular museum 
is advantageously known to scientists all over the 
world. The Colon Theatre is a large, well-equipped, 
and imposing place of entertainment, as much so as 
the Theatre Francaise, Paris, and takes a high posi- 
tion in representations of the legitimate drama and 
the production of the better spectacular plays. This 
house adopts what is called here the cazuela in the 
division of its auditorium, an excellent system, very 
general in South American theatres, and we believe, 
nowhere else. It consists in giving up the entire sec- 
ond tier of boxes or seats to the exclusive use of un- 
attended ladies, an arrangement which seemed to us 
strongly to recommend itself. To this division of the 
auditorium there is a separate entrance from the 
street, and no gentlemen are admitted under any pre- 
text whatever. So those who desire to come to the 
entertainments quite unattended can do so with per- 



NOISY THOROUGHFARES. 261 

feet propriety, and are safe from all intrusion in this 
isolated position. The ladies of this city, when they 
appear in public, dress very elegantly, following 
closely North American and European styles, while 
displaying the choicest imported materials well made 
up. Perhaps comparisons are invidious, but we feel 
inclined to accord precedence in the matter of per- 
sonal beauty to those of Montevideo. In dress, how- 
ever, the ladies of Buenos Ayres certainly excel them. 
Each city has its local "Worth," but many dresses 
are made in Paris and imported, regardless of ex- 
pense. 

There may be somewhere a noisier city than Buenos 
Ayres, as regards street life in the business section, 
but London or New York cannot rival it in this re- 
spect. Undoubtedly this is owing in a measure to 
the fact that the traffic of so large and busy a metrop- 
olis is crowded into such narrow thoroughfares, barely 
thirty feet in width, and often less than that, a portion 
of which space is taken up by the tramway tracks. 
The noisy vehicles which run on these rails make 
their full share of the racket and hubbub. Here, as 
in the cities of Mexico and Puebla, the drivers of the 
cars are supplied each with a tin horn, hung about his 
neck, or suspended from the car front, upon which he 
exercises his lungs, producing ear -piercing and dis- 
cordant notes. Wheels and hoofs upon the uneven 
pavements increase the din, supplemented by shouts 
and language more forcible than proper, uttered by 
enraged teamsters because of the frequent blocking of 



262 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

the roadway. Add to these dulcet sounds the cries of 
itinerant fruit venders, fancy-goods sellers, and the 
shouts of persistent newsboys, and one has some idea 
of the irritating uproar which rages all day long in 
the older streets of Buenos Ayres. 

Cows and mares are driven singly or in groups 
through the streets of this city, and milked at the 
customers' doors, so that one is nearly certain of get- 
ting the genuine article in this line, though we were 
assured that some roguish dealers carry an india-rub- 
ber tube and flat bag under their clothing from which 
they slyly extract a portion of water to "extend" the 
lacteal fluid. "Is there no honesty extant? " Adul- 
teration seems to have become an instinct of trade. 
Asses are still driven through the streets of Paris, in 
the early mornings, and the milk obtained from them 
is distributed in the same manner, whether with a 
slight adulteration of water or not, we are unable to 
say. It is not uncommon at Buenos Ayres to see a 
person served on the street with fresh milk just drawn 
from the animal, which he drinks on the spot. A 
very refreshing, modest, and nutritious morning tip- 
ple. Mares, as before mentioned, are not used for 
working or riding in this country, but are kept solely 
for breeding purposes and to furnish milk. This ar- 
ticle is considered to be more nourishing for invalids 
and children than cow's milk, and is often prescribed 
as a regular diet by the physicians. 

The grand driving park of the capital, known by the 
name of Third of February, is situated at Palermo, 



ENVIRONS OF THE CITY. 263 

some distance from the city proper, and covers between 
eight and nine hundred acres. On certain days, es- 
pecially on Sundays, a military band gives a public 
outdoor concert here, when all the beauty and fashion 
of the city turn out in gay equipages to see and to be 
seen, forming also a grand and spirited cavalcade of 
fine horses and carriages. The races take place at 
Palermo, and, as in all Roman Catholic countries, on 
Sundays. 

The neighborhood of Buenos Ayres is generally 
under good cultivation, the soil and climate uniting 
to produce splendid agricultural results. The sub- 
urbs of Flores and Belgrano each present a very 
pretty group of quintas and gardens, wherein great 
skill and refinement of taste is evinced. The alfalfa, 
a species of clover used here in a green condition as 
fodder for cattle, and which is as rich as the red clover 
of New England, to which family of grasses it be- 
longs, grows so rapidly and ripens so promptly that 
three crops are often realized from the same field in a 
single season. The immediate environs of the city 
are occupied by private residences, many of which are 
very elaborate and imposing, surrounded by charming 
gardens and pleasure grounds. Grottoes, statuary, and 
fountains abound, while orchards of various fruits are 
common, interspersed here and there with picturesque 
graperies. Some of the highways are guarded by 
hedges of cactus, — agave, — much more impenetrable 
than any artificial fencing. Trees of the eucalyptus 
family have heretofore been favorites here, originally 



264 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

imported from Australia, but they have ceased to be de- 
sirable, since it appears that nothing will grow in their 
shadow. They seem to exercise a blighting power on 
other species of vegetation. Figs, peaches, and oranges 
grow side by side, surrounded by other fruits, while 
the low-lying fields and open meadows nearest to the 
river are divided into large squares of three or four 
acres each, enameled with the deep green of the thick 
growing alfalfa, and other crops varying in color after 
their kind. Eichest of all are the intensely yellow 
fields of ripening wheat still farther inland, whose 
softly undulating surface, gently yielding to the pass- 
ing breeze, produces long, widespread floating ripples 
of golden light. 

The love of flowers is a passion among all classes of 
the people, and their cultivation as a business by ex- 
perienced individuals gives profitable employment to 
many florists, whose grounds are pictures of accumu- 
lated beauty, fragrance, and variety of hues. There is 
as true harmony to the eye in such blendings as there 
is to the ear in perfect music. The reader may be 
sure that where the children of Mora so much abound, 
bright tinted humming-birds do much more abound, 
dainty little living feathered gems, rivaling rubies, 
sapphires, and emeralds. 

To insure the good health of her large and increas- 
ing population, the system of drainage in Buenos Ayres 
requires prompt and effectual treatment. The natural 
fall of the ground towards the river is hardly sufficient 
to second any engineering effort to this end. That 



EXTENT OF TERRITORY. 265 

typhoid fever should prevail here to the extent which 
it does, at nearly all seasons of the year, is a terrible 
reflection upon those in authority. This is a fatal 
disease which is quite preventable, and in this instance 
clearly traceable to obvious causes. Rio Janeiro, with 
its yellow fever scourge, is hardly more seriously 
afflicted than Buenos Ayres with its typhoid malaria. 
Indeed, it is contended by some persons living on the 
coast that the number of deaths per annum in the two 
cities arising from these causes is very nearly equal, 
taking into account the results of year after year. 
Sometimes, unaccountably, Rio escapes the fever for a 
twelvemonth, that is to say, some seasons it does not 
rage as an epidemic ; but we fear, if the truth were 
fairly expressed, it would be found that the seeds are 
there all the while, and that the city of Rio Janeiro, 
like that of Vera Cruz on the Gulf of Mexico, is never 
absolutely exempt from occasional cases. 

The Argentine Republic contains more than a mil- 
lion square miles, as already stated; indeed, immen- 
sity may be said to be one of its most manifest char- 
acteristics. The plains, the woods, the rivers, are 
colossal. To be sure, all of her territory is not, strictly 
speaking, available land, suitable for agricultural pur- 
poses, any more than is the case in our own wide- 
spread country. No other nation equals this republic 
in the value of cattle, compared with the number of 
the population, not forgetting Australia with its 
immense sheep and cattle ranches. It is believed, 
nevertheless, that the agricultural interest here, as in 



266 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

Uruguay, is gradually increasing in such ratio that 
it will erelong rival the pastoral. The average soil is 
very similar to that of our Mississippi valley, yielding 
a satisfactory succession of crops without the aid of 
any artificial enrichment. The pampas have a mel- 
low, dry soil, the common grass growing in tussocks 
to the height of three or four feet, and possessing a pe- 
rennial vigor which mostly crowds out other vegeta- 
tion. A few wild flowers are occasionally seen, and in 
the marshy places lilies of several species are to be met 
with; but taken all together the flora of the pampas 
is the poorest of any fertile district with which we 
are acquainted. A few half-developed herbs and 
trefoils occasionally meet the eye, together with small 
patches of wild verbenas of various colors. At long 
distances from each other one comes upon areas of tall 
pampas grass as it is called, so stocky as to be almost 
like the bamboo, eight or ten feet high, decked with 
fleecy, white plumes. Birds are scarce on the pam- 
pas. There is a peculiar species of hare, besides some 
animals of the rodent family, resembling prairie-dogs 
— biscachos — or overgrown rats, together with an 
occasional jaguar and puma, found on these plains, as 
well as that meanest of all animals, the pestiferous 
skunk. Animal life, other than the herds of wild cat- 
tle, can hardly be said to abound on the pampas. 

Until a few years since, Buenos Ay res enjoyed the 
distinction of being the capital of the province of the 
same name, as also of the Argentine Republic; but 
the present capital of the province of Buenos Ayres, 



A NEW CITY. 267 

called La Plata, is situated about forty miles south- 
east of Buenos Ayres, with which it is connected by 
railway. The site of the new capital was an uninhab- 
ited wilderness ten years ago, the foundation stone 
of this city having been laid in 1882. To-day La 
Plata has a population of about fifty thousand, al- 
though over seventy are claimed for it, a comprehen- 
sive system of tramways, broad, well-paved streets, 
two theatres, thirty public schools, a national college, 
and six large hotels. There are many monuments and 
fountains ornamenting the thoroughfares, and what is 
now wanting is a population commensurate with the 
grand scale on which the capital is designed. An im- 
mense cathedral is being built, but has only reached 
a little way above its foundation, as work upon it 
has for a while been suspended. If the original plan 
is fully carried out, it may be half a century of 
more in course of construction. La Plata is suffering 
from the pecuniary crisis perhaps more seriously than 
any other part of the country. The city is lighted by 
both electricity and gas, issues five daily newspapers, 
has a very complete astronomical observatory, a pub- 
lic library, five railroad stations, and some very ele- 
gant public buildings. Its large possibilities are by 
no means improved, however. Of the buildings, the 
edifice of the provincial legislature, that of the min- 
ister of finance, and the legislative palace are all wor- 
thy of mention. The government house is a long, low 
structure, the front view of which is rendered effec- 
tive by an added story in the centre, which projects 



268 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

from the line of the building, and is supported by high 
columns. The "Palace," as it is called, forming the 
residence of the governor of the province, is an elab- 
orate and pretentious building, three stories in height, 
with two flanking domes and a dominating one in the 
centre. Of course La Plata has gained its start and 
rapid growth from the prestige of being the provincial 
capital, but it is now slowly developing a legitimate 
growth on a sound business basis, and though it can 
hardly be expected to ever equal Buenos Ayres in pop- 
ulation and commercial importance, it nevertheless 
promises to be a prosperous city in the distant future ; 
its citizens already call it the " Washington " of South 
America. A close observer could not but notice that 
many houses were unoccupied, and the streets seemed 
half deserted. 

While the most of our maps and geographies re- 
main pretty much as they were a score of years ago, 
and a majority of the kingdoms of the Old World have 
changed scarcely at all, the Argentine Republic has 
been steadily growing in population, progressing rap- 
idly in intelligence, constantly extending its commer- 
cial relations, and marching all the while towards the 
front rank of modern civilization. A detailed state- 
ment of its extraordinary development during the last 
twenty years, in commerce, railway connections, 
schools, agriculture, and general wealth, would sur- 
prise the most intelligent reader. It is believed by 
experienced and conservative people, particularly those 
conversant with the South American republics, that 



PROGRESS OF ARGENTINA. 269 

Buenos Ayres will be the first city south of the equator 
in commercial rank and population, within a quarter 
of a century. The increase of this republic in popu- 
lation during the last two decades has been over one 
hundred and fifty per cent. , a rapidity of growth al- 
most without precedent. The increase of population 
in our own country, during the same period, was less 
than eighty per cent. Twenty -four lines of magnifi- 
cent steamships connect the Argentine Republic with 
Europe, and twice that number of vessels sail back 
and forth each month of the year, while its railway 
system embraces over six thousand miles of road in 
operation, besides one or two yet incomplete routes, 
though the opening of its first line was so late as 
thirty -four years ago. Add to this her system of in- 
land river navigation, covering thousands of miles, 
which has been so systematized as to fully supplement 
the remarkable railway facilities. 

That Argentina rests at the present moment, as 
we have constantly intimated, under a financial cloud 
is only too well known to every one. It is a crisis 
brought about by an overhaste in the development of 
the country, especially in railroad enterprises. Fes- 
tina lente is a good sound maxim, which the people 
of this republic have quite disregarded, and for which 
they and their creditors are suffering accordingly. It 
is seldom that any newly developed country escapes 
the maladies attendant upon too rapid growth, but 
this is a sort of illness pretty sure to remedy itself in 
due time, and rarely impedes the proper development 



270 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

of maturer years. If this republic has been unduly 
extravagant, and borrowed too much money in advan- 
cing her material interests, she has at least something 
to show for it. The funds have not been foolishly 
expended in sustaining worse than useless hordes of 
armed men, nor in the profitless support of royal 
puppets. 

Nations no less than individuals are liable to finan- 
cial failure, but with her grand and inexhaustible na- 
tive resources, backed by the energy of her adopted 
citizens, this republic is as sure as anything mortal can 
be to soon recover from her present business depres- 
sion, and to astonish the world at large by the rapid- 
ity of her financial recuperation. Her present annual 
crop of wool exceeds all former record in amount, 
and is authoritatively estimated at over thirty million 
dollars in value. To this large industrial product 
is to be added her prolific harvest of maize and wheat, 
together with an almost fabulous amount of valuable 
hides. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

City of Rosario. — Its Population. — A Pretentious Church. — Ocean 
Experiences. — Morbid Fancies. — Strait of Magellan. — A Great 
Discoverer. — Local Characteristics. — Patagonians and Fuegians. — 
Giant Kelp. — Unique Mail Box. — Punta Arenas. — An Ex-Penal 
Colony. — The Albatross. — Natives. — A Naked People. — Whales. 
— Sea-Birds. — Glaciers. — Mount Sarmiento. — A Singular Story. 

The route to Rosario is rather monotonous by rail- 
way, taking the traveler through a very flat but fer- 
tile region, over prairies which are virtually treeless, 
not unlike long reaches of country through which the 
Canadian Pacific Railroad passes between Banff, in 
the Rocky Mountains, and Port Arthur, on Lake Su- 
perior. The monotonous scenery is varied only by a 
sight of occasional herds of cattle, feeding upon the 
rich grass, with here and there a mounted herdsman, 
and the numberless telegraph poles which line the. 
track. It is at least a seven hours' journey from 
Buenos Ayres to Rosario. Occasionally a marshy 
reach of soil is encountered where large aquatic birds 
are seen, such as flamingoes, storks, cranes, herons, 
and the like. 

Rosario, in the province of Santa Fe, is the second 
city in point of population and importance in the 
Argentine Republic. It is a young and promising 
capital, hardly yet fairly launched upon its voyage of 



272 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

prosperity, but so far it has been singularly favored by 
various circumstances. The place is arranged in the 
usual crisscross manner as regards the streets of this 
country, which, unfortunately, are too narrow for 
even its present limited business. In place of twenty- 
four feet they should have been laid out at least 
double that width, in the light of all experience has 
developed in these South American cities. This new 
town is situated a little less than three hundred miles 
by water from Buenos Ayres, and about two hundred 
by land, railroad and steamboat connection being 
regularly maintained between them. The site is admi- 
rably chosen on the banks of the Parana River, fifty 
or sixty feet above its level, and it is destined to be- 
come, eventually, a great commercial centre. In 1854 
it was only a large village, containing some four thou- 
sand people. It is the natural seaport, not only of 
the rich province of Cordova, but also of the more in- 
land districts, Mendoza, San Luis, Tucuman, Salta, 
and Jujuy, the first named having a population of half 
a million. Owing to the height of the river's banks, 
merchandise is loaded by " shutes," being thus con- 
ducted at once from the warehouses to the hatches of 
the vessels. Already a number of foreign steamships 
may be seen almost any day lying at anchor opposite 
the town, while the railway communications in various 
directions have all of their transportation capacity 
fully employed. One of these lines reaches almost 
across the continent to Mendoza, at the eastern slope 
of the Andes, west from Rosario. Other roads run 



PROGRESS OF ROSARIO. 273 

both north and south from here. The foreign and 
domestic trade of the place is second only to that of 
Buenos Ayres. Vessels drawing fifteen feet of water 
ascend the river to this point. As a shipping port, 
Rosario has to a certain extent special advantages even 
over the larger city, being two or three hundred miles 
nearer the merchandise producing points. 

There is already a population of some seventy-five 
thousand here, and, as we have intimated, the city is 
growing rapidly. Wharves, docks, and warehouses 
are in course of construction, and can hardly be finished 
fast enough to meet the demand for their use. There 
are a few substantial and handsome dwellings being 
erected, and many of a more ordinary class, in the 
finishing of which many a cargo of New England 
lumber is consumed. Some of the public buildings 
are imposing in size and architectural design, wisely 
constructed in anticipation of the future size of the 
city, whose rapid growth is only equaled by St. 
Paul in Brazil. The tramway, gas, and telephone 
have been successfully introduced. There is certainly 
no lack of enterprise evinced in all legitimate business 
directions, while attention is being very properly and 
promptly turned towards perfecting a carefully devised 
educational system of free schools, primary and pro- 
gressive. "When the founders of a new city begin in 
this intelligent fashion, we may be very sure that they 
are moving in the right direction, and that permanency, 
together with abundant present success, is sure to be 
the sequence. 



274 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

On one side of the Plaza Mayor of Rosario stands 
a very pretentious church, not yet quite completed, 
but as the towers and dome are finished it makes a 
prominent feature from a long way off, as one ap- 
proaches the town. In the centre of this square is a 
marble shaft surmounted by a figure representing 
Victory, and at the base are four statues of Argentine 
historic characters. This square is adorned with a 
double row of handsome acacias. As regards amuse- 
ments, so far as is visible, theatricals seem to take the 
lead, the place having two theatres, both of which 
appear to be enjoying a thriving business. 

When a new city is started in South America upon 
a site so well selected, and after so thoroughly sub- 
stantial a plan, the result is no problem. The influx 
of European immigrants promptly supplies the neces- 
sary laborers and artisans, quite as fast, indeed, as 
they are required, while the ordinary growth and de- 
velopment of inland resources tax the local business 
capacity, enterprise, and capital to their utmost. Ro- 
sario needs to perfect a careful and thorough system 
of drainage. Fevers are at present alarmingly prev- 
alent, arising from causes which judicious attention 
and sanitary means would easily obviate. 

We will not weary the reader by protracted delay 
at this point, having still a long voyage before us. 

Embarking at Montevideo, our way is southward 
over a broad and lonely track of ocean. If we can 
summon a degree of philosophy to our aid, it is for- 
tunate. Without genial companions, surrounded by 



FOREBODINGS OF EVIL. 275 

strangers, and thrown entirely upon ourselves, mental 
resort often fails us, life appears sombre, the wide, 
wide ocean almost appalling. One of the inevitable 
trials of a long sea voyage is the wakeful hours which 
will occasionally visit the most experienced traveler, 
— midnight hours, when the weary brain becomes pre- 
ternaturally active, the imagination oversensitive and 
weird in its erratic conceptions, while forebodings of 
evil which never happens are apt to fill the mind 
with morbid anxieties. The very silence of the sur- 
roundings is impressive, interrupted only by the reg- 
ular throbbing of the great, tireless engine, and the 
dashing waters chafing along the iron hull close beside 
the wakeful dreamer. Separated by thousands of 
miles from home, all communication cut off with 
friends and the world at large, while watching the 
dreary ocean, day after day, week after week, we 
imagine endless misfortunes that may have come to 
dear ones on shore. However limited may be the 
world of reality, that of the imagination is boundless, 
and sometimes one realizes years of wretched anxiety 
in the space of a few overwrought hours. It is such 
moments of passive misery which beget wrinkles and 
white hairs. Action is the only relief , and one hastens 
to the deck for a change of scene and thoughts. After 
experiencing such a night, how glad and glorious 
seems the sun rising out of the wide waste of waters, 
how bright and glowing the smile he casts upon the 
long lazy swell of the South Atlantic, as if pointedly 
to rebuke the overwrought fancy, and reassure the 
aching heart ! 



276 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

Be we never so dreary, the great ship speeds on its 
course, heeding us not ; its busy motor, like heart- 
beats, throbs with undisturbed uniformity, forcing the 
vessel onward despite the joy or sorrow of those it 
carries within its capacious hull. 

The Strait of Magellan, which divides South Amer- 
ica from the mysterious island group which is known 
as Terra del Fuego, and connects the Atlantic with the 
Pacific Ocean by a most intricate water-way, is con- 
siderably less than four hundred miles in length, and 
of various widths. De Lesseps, with his successful 
Suez Canal and his deplorable Panama failure, is 
quite distanced by the hand of Nature in this line of 
business. It would require about ten thousand Suez 
Canals to make a Magellan Strait, and then it would 
be but a very sorry imitation. It will be remembered 
that the Portuguese navigator who discovered this 
remarkable passage, and for whom it is justly named, 
first passed through it in November, 1520, finally 
emerging into the waters of the new sea, upon which 
he was the first to sail, and which he named Mar 
Pacifico. Doubtless it seemed " pacific " to him after 
his rude experience in the South Atlantic, but the 
author has known as rough weather in this misnamed 
ocean as he has ever encountered in any part of the 
globe. 

One can well conceive of the elation and surprise of 
Magellan, upon emerging from the intricate passage 
through which he had been struggling to make his 
way for so many weary days. What a sensation of 



STRAIT OF MAGELLAN. 277 

satisfaction and triumph must the courageous and per- 
severing navigator have experienced at the discovery 
he had made ! What mattered all his weary hours of 
watching, of self-abnegation, of cold and hunger, of 
incessant battling with the raging sea ? Henceforth 
to him royal censure or royal largess mattered little. 
His name would descend to all future generations as 
the great discoverer of this almost limitless ocean. 

The passage leading to the strait on the Atlantic or 
eastern end is about twenty miles across, Cape Ver- 
gens being on the starboard side, and Cape Espiritu 
Santo — or Cape Holy Ghost — on the port. The 
entrance on the western or Pacific end is marked by 
Cape Pillar, Desolation Land, where the scenery is 
far more rugged and mountainous, the cape terminat- 
ing in two cliffs, shaped so much like artificial towers 
as to be quite deceptive at a short distance. The nar- 
rowest part of the strait is about one mile in width, 
known to mariners as Crooked Reach. A passage 
through this great natural canal is an experience sim- 
ilar, in some respects, to that of sailing in the inland 
sea of Alaska, between Victoria and Glacier Bay, 
bringing into view dense forests, immense glaciers, 
abrupt mountain peaks, and snow-covered summits, 
the whole shrouded in the same solitude and silence, 
varied by the occasional flight of sea-birds or the ap- 
pearance of seals and porpoises from below the deep 
waters. So irregular in its course is this passage be- 
tween the two great oceans, so changeable are its cur- 
rents, so impeded by dangerous rocks and hidden 



278 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

shoals, so beset with squalls and sudden storms, that 
sailing vessels are forced to double the ever-dreaded 
Cape Horn rather than take the Magellan route. A 
United States man-of-war, a sailing ship, was once over 
two months in making the passage through the strait, 
and Magellan tells us that he was thirty-seven days in 
passing from ocean to ocean, though using all ordinary 
dispatch. Within a fortnight of the writing of these 
notes, a European mail steamship was lost here by 
striking upon a sunken rock. Fortunately, owing to 
the proximity of the shore and moderate weather pre- 
vailing, the crew and passengers were all saved. 

Winter lingers, and the days are short in this lati- 
tude. A sailing ship would be compelled to find anchor- 
age nightly, and some days would perhaps be driven 
back in a few hours a distance which it had required a 
week to make in her proper direction. Steamships usu- 
ally accomplish the run in from thirty to forty hours, 
there being many reaches where it is necessary to run 
only at half speed. If heavy fogs and bad weather 
prevail, they often lay by during the night, and also in 
snow-storms, which occur not infrequently. The sky 
is seldom clear for many hours together, and the sun's 
warmth is rarely felt, the rain falling almost daily. 
Even in the summer of this high southern latitude 
the nights are cold and gloomy, ice nearly always 
forming. It must be admitted that this region, of it- 
self, is not calculated to attract the most inveterate 
wanderer. One is not surprised when reading the 
rather startling narrations of the old navigators who 



FUEGJANS AND PATAGONIANS. 279 

made the passage of the strait, encountering the con- 
stantly varying winds, and having canvas only to de- 
pend upon. The marvel is that, with their primitive 
means, they should have accomplished so much. There 
are no lighthouses in this passage from ocean to ocean, 
though it has been pretty well surveyed and buoyed 
in late years, thanks to the liberality of the English 
naval service, by whom this was done. There is, in 
fact, a dearth of lighthouses on the entire coast of 
South America, especially on the west side of the con- 
tinent. We can recall but three between Montevideo 
and Valparaiso, a distance, by way of the strait, of 
fully two thousand miles. The lighthouses we refer 
to are at Punta Arenas, Punta Galesa, near Valdivia, 
and that which marks the port of Concepcion, at 
Talcahuano. The Strait of Magellan is only fit as an 
abiding-place for seals, waterfowl, and otters ; hu- 
manity can hardly find congenial foothold here. 

The natives of Patagonia, who live on the northern 
side of the strait, are called horse Indians, because 
they make such constant use of the wild horses ; they 
do not move in any direction without them. Those 
on the Fuegian side are called canoe Indians, as the 
canoe forms their universal and indeed only mode of 
transportation. The former are a rather large, tall 
race of people, the men averaging about six feet in 
height ; the latter are smaller in physical development, 
and are less civilized than the Indians of Patagonia, 
which, to be sure, is saying very little for the latter, 
who are really a low type of nomads. The Fuegians 



280 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

are believed to still practice cannibalism. One writer 
tells us that criminals and prisoners of war are thus 
disposed of, and that the last crew of shipwrecked 
seamen who fell into their hands were roasted and 
eaten by them. Their hostile purposes are well un- 
derstood, for whenever they dare to exercise such a 
spirit they are sure to do so. They cautiously send 
out a boat or two to passing vessels, with whom 
a little trading is attempted, the main body of na- 
tives keeping well out of sight ; but in case of any 
mishap to a ship, or if a small party land and are 
unable to defend themselves, they will appear in 
swarms from various hiding-places, swooping down 
upon their victims like vultures in the desert. The 
officers of the yacht Sunbeam, as recounted by Lady 
Brassey, found it necessary to turn her steam-pipes full 
force upon the swarming natives, who were doubtless 
preparing to make an effort to capture the yacht and 
her crew, hoping to overcome them by mere force of 
numbers. They were, however, so frightened and ut- 
terly astonished by the means of defense adopted by 
Lord Brassey that they threw themselves, one and all, 
into the sea, and sought the shore pell-mell. Humboldt, 
in his day, ranked these Fuegians among the lowest 
specimens of humanity he had ever met, and they 
certainly do not seem to have improved much in the 
mean time. One is at a loss to understand why the 
Patagonians should have impressed the early naviga- 
tors with the idea that they were a people of gigantic 
size. There is no evidence to-day of their being, or 



GIANT SEA-KELP. 281 

ever having been, taller or larger than the average 
New Englander. Half-naked savages, standing six 
feet high, naturally impress one as being taller than 
Europeans clad in the conventional style of civilized 
people. 

The waters of Magellan are very dark, deep, and 
sullen in aspect, with insufficient room in many places 
to manage a ship properly under canvas alone. In their 
depth and darkness these waters also resemble those of 
Alaska's inland sea. The shores are quite bold, and the 
rocks below the surface are mostly indicated by giant 
kelp — Fucus giganteus — growing over them, a kind 
provision of nature in behalf of safe navigation. It 
will not answer, however, to depend solely upon this 
indication; the many rocks in the strait are by no 
means all so designated, nor are they all buoyed. Sea- 
kelp is very plentiful in this region, and serves many 
useful purposes. It forms a nourishing food for the 
Fuegians under certain circumstances, when their 
usual supply is scarce. They dry it and prepare it in 
a rude way suited to their unsophisticated palates. It 
also forms a portion of the support of the seals and 
sea-otters ; these creatures feed freely upon its more 
delicate and tender shoots. It is wonderful how it can 
exist and thrive among such breakers as it constantly 
encounters in these restless waters, which are churned 
into mounds of foam in squally weather ; but it does 
grow in great luxuriance, rising oftentimes two hun- 
dred feet and more from the bottom of the sea. It is 
curious to watch its abundant growth and its peculiar 



282 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

habits. If the wind and tide are in the same direc- 
tion, the plant lies smooth upon the water ; but if the 
wind is against the tide, the leaves curl up, causing a 
ripple on the surface, like a school of small fish. A 
specimen of giant kelp was secured from alongside 
of the ship, broken off at arm's length below the sur- 
face of the water. It was heavy and full of par- 
asites. Upon shaking it, myriads of marine insects, 
shells, tiny crabs, sea-eggs, and star-fish fell upon the 
deck. All of these were of the smallest species, some 
almost invisible to the naked eye, but how wonderful 
they appeared under the microscope, which developed 
hundreds of forms of life infinitesimal in size ! 

At a prominent point of the main channel is a 
strong box made fast by a chain, which always used 
to be opened by the masters of passing ships, either 
to deposit or to take away letters, as the case might 
be, each shipmaster undertaking the free delivery of 
all letters whose address was within the line of his 
subsequent course. In the whaleship service, especially 
during times now Jong past, this arrangement has 
been of great service, and there is no instance on 
record where the purpose of this self-sustaining post- 
office was disregarded. In these days of fast and 
regular post-office service, the " Magellan mail," as it 
was called, is of no practical account. 

There are several fairly good harbors in the strait, 
but the only white settlement was originally a penal 
colony founded by the Chilian government, though 
it no longer serves for that purpose, the convicts 



PUNT A ARENAS. 283 

having risen some years since, and overpowered the 
garrison. A large portion of the Patagonian shore is 
well wooded, besides which an available coal deposit 
has been found and worked to fair advantage. Steam- 
ships, which were formerly obliged to go to the Falk- 
land Islands, in the Atlantic, five hundred miles 
from the mouth of the strait, when running short of 
fuel, can now get their supply in an exigency at 
Punta Arenas — " Sandy Point." It is situated in 
the eastern section of the strait, about a hundred and 
twenty -five miles from the entrance. We do not 
mean to convey the idea that this is a regular coaling 
station, though it may some time become so. The 
town consists of straggling, low-built log-houses, and 
a few framed ones, reminding one of Port Said at the 
Mediterranean end of the Suez Canal, with its hetero- 
geneous population. That of Sandy Point is made up 
of all nationalities, strongly tinctured with ex-convicts, 
and deserters from the Chilian army and navy. Eng- 
glish is the language most commonly spoken, though 
the place is Chilian territory. It contains some twelve 
or fifteen hundred inhabitants, and is the most south- 
erly town on the globe, as well as the most undesira- 
ble one in which to live, if one may express an opinion 
upon such brief acquaintance. 

We made no attempt to go on shore at Punta Are- 
nas. A rain-storm was at its height while the ship lay 
off the town, and when it rains in these latitudes, it 
attends exclusively to the business in hand. The water 
comes down like Niagara, until finally, when the clouds 



284 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

have entirely emptied themselves, it stops. Jupiter 
Pluvius is master of the situation, when he asserts 
himself, and there is no one who can dispute his 
authority. Umbrellas and waterproofs are of no 
more use as a protection during the downpour, than 
they would be to a person who had fallen overboard in 
water forty fathoms deep. One of our passengers 
came on deck with a life preserver about his body, sol- 
emnly declaring that if this sort of thing continued 
much longer, the article would be absolutely necessary 
in order to keep afloat. 

During the season the Patagonians bring into Punta 
Arenas the result of their hunting in the shape of seal 
and otter skius, together with guanaco, and silver-fox 
skins, which are gathered by local traders and shipped 
to Europe. Occasionally a few sea-otter skins of rare 
value are obtained from here, fully equal, we were 
told, to anything taken in Alaskan waters. We have 
said that Punta Arenas is the most southerly town 
on the globe. The next nearest town to the Antarctic 
circle is the Bluff, so called, — also known as Camp- 
belltown, — in the extreme south of New Zealand, 
where the author has eaten of the famous oysters 
indigenous there. 

Two sorts of supplies are to be obtained by navi- 
gators of the strait, namely, fuel and good drinking 
water. Sometimes a valuable skin robe may be pur- 
chased of the Patagonian Indians. It is called a 
guanaco-skin cloak, and made from the skin of the 
young deer. To obtain these skins of a uniform fine- 



BIRD LIFE. 285 

ness of texture, the fawns are killed when but eight 
or ten days old ; the available product got from each 
one is so small as hardly to exceed twice the size of 
one's hand. These are sewn together with infinite 
care and neatness by the Indian women, who use 
the fine sinews taken from ostriches' legs for thread. 
One of these guanaco-skin cloaks represents a vast 
amount of labor, and a hundred fawns must die to 
supply the raw material. Only chiefs of tribes can 
afford to wear them. Strangers who are willing to 
pay a price commensurate with their real cost and 
value may occasionally buy such an article as we 
describe, but these cloaks are rare. One was brought 
on board ship and shown to us, the price of which was 
twelve hundred dollars, nor do we think it was an 
excessive valuation. It was worth the amount as a 
rare curiosity for some art museum. 

That monarch bird of Antarctic regions, the alba- 
tross, frequents both ends of the strait, and sometimes 
accompanies steamships during the passage, together 
with cape-pigeons, gulls, and other marine birds, though 
as a rule the albatross is little seen except on the broad 
expanse of the ocean. A bird called the steamer-duck, 
also nicknamed by sailors the paddle-wheel duck, 
was pointed out to us by our captain. It is so called 
from its mode of propelling itself through the water, 
scooting over the surface of the strait while using both 
wings and legs, and creating considerable disturbance 
of the water, like a side-wheeler. The wings are too 
small to give it power of flight through the air. The 



286 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

steamer-duck is a large bird, nearly the size of the 
domestic goose ; after its fashion, it moves with aston- 
ishing velocity, considerably faster than the average 
speed of a steamship. But we were speaking a moment 
since of the albatross, which is a feathered cannibal, and 
shows some truly wolfish traits. When one of its own 
species, a member of the same flock even, is wounded 
and drops helpless to the surface of the sea, its com- 
rades swoop down upon it, and tearing the body to 
pieces with their powerful bills, devour the flesh raven- 
ously. This was witnessed near the Arctic circle, be- - 
tween Hobart, in Tasmania, and the Bluff, in New 
Zealand, a few years ago, when some English sports- 
men succeeded in wounding one of these mammoth 
birds from the deck of the steamship Zealandia. The 
only other known bird of our day which measures 
from eleven to twelve feet between the tips of the 
extended wings is the South American condor. 

The sea hereabouts abounds in fish, which consti- 
tute the largest portion of the food supply of the. few 
Indians who live near the coast of either shore. The 
Fuegians dwell in the rudest shelters possible, nothing 
approaching the form of a house. The frailest shel- 
ter, covered with sea-lion's skins, suffices to keep them 
from the inclemencies of the weather. With the ex- 
ception of an animal skin of some sort, having the 
fur on, secured over one shoulder on the side exposed 
to the wind, the canoe Indians wear no clothing. We 
were told that several of these natives, while quite 
young, were taken to England by advice of the mis- 



GOLD IN PATAGONIA. 287 

sionaries and taught to read and write, being also 
kindly instructed in civilized manners and customs, 
which they gladly adopted for the time being ; but 
upon returning to their native land, in every in- 
stance they rapidly lapsed into a condition of semi-sav- 
agery. It had been hoped they would act as a civilizing 
medium with their former friends, after returning 
among them, but this proved fallacious, and was a 
great disappointment to the well-meaning philanthro- 
pists. This same experience, as is well known, has 
been the result of similar experiments with natives of 
Africa and the South Sea Islands. The author is 
conversant with a striking illustration of this character 
in connection with an Australian Indian youth, which 
occurred in Queensland, and which was both interest- 
ing and very romantic in its development. It simply 
went to prove that hereditary instincts cannot be 
easily eradicated, and that not one, but many gener- 
ations are necessary to banish savage proclivities which 
are inherited from a long line of ancestors. 

Gold is found to some extent in the beds of the 
streams in Patagonia, — free gold, washed from the 
disintegrated rocks. Natives sometimes bring small 
quantities of the gold dust into Punta Arenas, with 
which to purchase tobacco and other articles. Many 
heedless and unprincipled individuals sell them intox- 
icants, to obtain which these Indians will part with any- 
thing they possess, after they have once become familiar 
with the taste and effect of the captivating poison. 

Not far from Cape Forward, near the middle of the 



288 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

strait, which is the most southerly portion of the Amer- 
ican continent, three native boats were seen during our 
passage. The steamer was slowed for a few moments 
to give us a brief opportunity to see the savage occu- 
pants. These three frail, ill-built canoes were tossed 
high and low by the swell of the Pacific, which set to 
the eastward through the strait. Each boat contained 
a man, a couple of women, and one or two children, the 
latter entirely naked, the others nearly so. They were 
Fuegians, raising their hands and voices to attract our 
attention, asking for food and tobacco, to which appeal 
a generous response was made. Their broad faces, 
high cheek-bones, low foreheads, and flat noses, their 
faces and necks screened by coarse black hair, did not 
challenge our admiration, however much we were 
exercised by pity for human beings in so desolate a 
condition. They certainly possessed two redeeming 
features, — brilliant eyes and teeth of dazzling white- 
ness. The fruit thrown to them seemed best to suit 
the ideas and palates of the children, who devoured 
oranges, skin and all ; but the gift of clothing which 
was made to the parents was laid aside for future 
consideration, though there are probably no " ole clo' " 
merchants in Terra del Fuego. The men ate hard sea 
biscuit and slices of cold corned beef ravenously. The 
plump, well-rounded shoulders and limbs of the women 
showed them to be in far better physical condition 
than the men, whose bodies consisted of little besides 
skin and bones. They were copper colored, and the 
skin of the women shone in the bright sunlight which 



FUEGIANS. 289 

prevailed 'for the moment, as though they had been 
varnished. If their faces had been as well formed as 
their bodies, they woidd have been models of natural 
beauty. How these people could remain so nearly 
naked with apparent comfort, while we found over- 
coats quite necessary, was a problem difficult to solve 
satisfactorily. 

" They were born so," said our first officer. " As 
you go through life with your face and hands exposed, 
so they go with their entire bodies. It is a mere matter 
of habit, — habit from babyhood to maturity." 

All of which is perfectly reasonable. It was ob- 
served that on the bottom of their boats was a layer of 
flat stones, and on these, just amidship, was spread a 
low, smouldering fire of dried vines and small twigs, 
designed to temper the atmosphere about them. So 
frail were the boats that one of the occupants was kept 
constantly baling out water. 

It is impossible to form any intelligent estimate as 
to how many of these aborigines there are in and about 
the strait. They find food, like the canvas-back ducks, 
in the wild celery, adding shell-fish and dried berber- 
ries, and are a strictly nomadic people. After exhaust- 
ing the products of one vicinity, for the time being, 
they move on, but return to the locality at a proper 
time, when nature has recuperated herself and fur- 
nished a fresh supply of vegetable growth and edible 
shell-fish. A stranded whale is a godsend to these 
savages, upon the putrid flesh of which they live and 
fatten until all has disappeared. In their primitive 



290 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

way they hunt this leviathan, but want of proper facil- 
ities renders them rarely successful. Occasionally they 
manage to plant a spear in some vital spot, deep enough 
to be effectual, so that the whale, after diving to the 
depths of the sea, finally comes to the surface, near 
the place where he was wounded, to thrash about and 
to die. Even then, unless it is at a favorable point, 
the large body is liable to be swept away by the strong 
tide setting through the strait, so that the natives sel- 
dom secure a carcass by these means. 

Not long since one of the European mail steamers, 
on approaching the Atlantic end of the strait, sighted 
an object which was at first thought to be a sunken 
rock. If this was its character, it was all important 
to obtain the exact location. A boat was lowered and 
pulled to the object, when it was found to be the 
carcass of a dead whale, in which was a stout wooden 
spear which had fatally wounded the creature. Se- 
curely attached to the spear, by means of a rope made 
of animal sinews, there were a couple of inflated blad- 
ders. The spear was evidently a Fuegian weapon, 
and though it had finally cost the whale his life, the 
dead body had been carried by the current far beyond 
the reach of those who had caused the fatal wound. 
The discovery showed the crude manner in which these 
savages seek to possess themselves of a whale occa- 
sionally and thus to appease their barbaric appetites. 
They could not pursue one in their frail boats, but 
the creature is sometimes found sleeping on the sur- 
face of the sea, which is the Fuegian opportunity for 



AQUATIC BIRDS. 291 

approaching it noiselessly, and for planting a spear in 
some vital part of the huge body. Whales, when thus 
attacked, do not show fight, but their instinct leads 
them to dive at once. 

A few whales were observed within the strait during 
our passage, some so near as to show that they had 
no fear of the ship. It was curious to watch them. 
There was a baby whale among the rest, five or six 
feet in length, which kept very close to its dam ; it 
suddenly disappeared once while we were watching 
the school, though only to rise again to the surface 
of the sea and emit a tiny fountain of spray from its 
diminutive blow-hole. In passing a small inlet which 
formed a calm, sheltered piece of water, still as an 
inland lake, there were seen upon its tranquil bosom 
a few white geese, quietly floating, while close at hand 
upon some rocks, a half score of awkward penguins 
were also observed, with their ludicrous dummy wings, 
and their bodies supported in a half standing, half 
sitting position. 

Ducks seem to be very abundant in the strait, 
but geese are scarce. An occasional cormorant is 
caught sight of, with its distended pouch bearing wit- 
ness to its proverbial voracity. All the birds one sees 
in these far away regions have each some peculiar 
adaptability to the climate, the locality, or to both. 
The penguin never makes the mistake of seeking our 
northern shores, nor is the albatross often seen north 
of the fortieth degree of south latitude. True, were 
the former to emigrate, he would have to swim the 



292 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

whole distance, but the latter is so marvelously strong 
of wing that it has been said of him, he might break- 
fast, if he chose, at the Cape of Good Hope, and dine 
on the coast of Newfoundland. 

Terra del Fuego, — " Land of Fire," — which makes 
the southern side of the strait, opposite Patagonia, is 
composed of a very large group of islands washed by 
the Atlantic on the east side and the Pacific on the 
west, trending towards the southeast for about two 
hundred miles from the strait, and terminating at 
Cape Horn. The largest of these islands is East 
Terra del Fuego, which measures from east to west 
between three and four hundred miles. One can only 
speak vaguely of detail, as this is still a terra incog- 
nita. These islands do indeed form " a land of deso- 
lation," as Captain Cook appropriately named them, 
sparsely inhabited to be sure, but hardly fit for human 
beings. They are deeply indented and cut up by 
arms of the sea, and composed mostly of sterile 
mountains, whose tops are covered with perpetual 
snow. When the mountains are not too much ex- 
posed to the ocean storms on the west coast, they are 
scantily covered with a species of hardy, wind-dis- 
torted trees from the water's edge upward to the snow 
line, which is here about two thousand feet above the 
sea. In sheltered areas this growth is dense and for- 
est-like, especially nearest to the sea ; in others it is 
interspersed by bald and blanched patches of barren 
rocks. In some open places, where they have worn 
themselves a broad path, the glaciers come down to 



GLACIERS. 293 

the water, discharging sections of ice constantly into 
the deep sea, crowded forward and downward by the 
immense but slow-moving mass behind, — a frozen 
river, — thus illustrating the habit of the iceberg-pro- 
ducing glaciers of the far north. 

One never approaches this subject without recalling 
the lamented Agassiz and his absorbing theories relat- 
ing to it. 

The author has seen huge glaciers in Scandinavia 
and in Switzerland, forming natural exhibitions of 
great interest ; each country has peculiarities in this 
respect. In the last-named country, for instance, 
there is no example where a glacier descends lower 
than thirty-five hundred feet above the sea level, while 
in Norway the only one of which he can speak from 
personal observation has before it a large terminal 
moraine, thus losing the capacity for that most striking 
performance, the discharge of icebergs. The best 
example of this interesting operation of nature which 
we have ever witnessed, and probably the most effec- 
tive in the world, is that of the Muir glacier in Alaska, 
where an immense frozen river comes boldly down 
from the Arctic regions to the sea level, with a sheer 
height at its terminus of over two hundred feet. From 
this unique facade, nearly two miles in width, the 
constant tumbling of icebergs into the sea is accom- 
panied by a noise like a salvo of cannon. This gla- 
cier, it should be remembered, also extends to the bot- 
tom of the bay, where it enters it two hundred feet 
below the surface of the water, thus giving it a height, 



294 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

or perhaps we should say a depth and height combined, 
of fully four hundred feet. Icebergs are discharged 
from the submerged portion continually, and float to 
the surface, thus repeating the process below the water 
which is all the while going on above it, and visible 
upon the perpendicular surface. Nothing which we 
have seen in the Canadian Selkirks, in Switzerland, 
Norway, or elsewhere, equals in size, grandeur, or 
clearly denned glacial action, the famous Muir glacier 
of Alaska. 

The most remarkable peak to be seen in passing 
through the Strait of Magellan is Mount Sarmiento, 
which is inexpressibly grand in its proportions, domi- 
nating the borders of Cockburn's Channel near the 
Pacific end of the great water-way. It is about seven 
thousand feet in height, a spotless cone of snow, being 
in form extremely abrupt and pointed. This frosty 
monarch sends down from its upper regions a score or 
more of narrow, sky-blue glaciers to the sea through 
openings in the dusky forest. Darwin was especially 
impressed by the sight of these when he explored this 
region, and speaks of them as looking like so many 
Niagaras, but they are only miniature glaciers after all. 
One sees in the Pyrenees and the St. Gothard Pass 
similar cascades flowing down from the mountains to- 
wards the valleys, except that in the one instance the 
crystal waters are liquid, in the other they are quite 
congealed. The group or range of which Sarmiento 
is the apex is very generally shrouded in mist, and is 
visited by frequent rain, snow, and hail storms. We 



A SINGULAR STORY. 295 

were fortunate to see it under a momentary glow of 
warm sunshine, when the sky was deepest blue, and 
the ermine cloak of the mountain was spangled with 
frost gems. 

It would seem that such exposure to the elements 
in a frigid climate, and such deprivations as must be 
constantly endured by the barbarous natives who in- 
habit these bleak regions, must surely shorten their 
lives, and perhaps it does so, though "the survival of 
the fittest," who grow up to maturity, is in such num- 
bers that one is a little puzzled in considering the 
matter. A singular instance touching upon this point 
came indirectly to the writer's knowledge. 

It appears that four Fuegian women, one of whom 
was about forty years of age, and the others respec- 
tively about twenty, twenty-five, and thirty, were 
picked up adrift in the strait a few years ago. It was 
believed that they had escaped from some threatened 
tribal cruelty, but upon this subject they would reveal 
nothing. These fugitives were kindly taken in hand by 
philanthropic people at Sandy Point, and entertained 
with true Christian hospitality. When first discovered 
they were, as usual, quite naked, but were promptly 
clothed and properly housed. No more work was re- 
quired of them than they chose voluntarily to per- 
form ; in short, they were most kindly treated, and 
though the best of care was taken of them in a hy- 
gienic sense, they all gradually faded, and died of con- 
sumption in less than two years. They seemed to be 
contented, were grateful and cheerful, but clothing 



296 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

and a warm house to live in, odd as it may seem, 
killed them ! They were born to a free, open air and 
exposed daily life, and their apparently sturdy con- 
stitutions required such a mode of living. Civilized 
habits, strange to say, proved fatal to these wild chil- 
dren of the rough Fuegian coast. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

The Land of Fire. — Cape Horn. — In the Open Pacific. — Fellow Pas- 
sengers. — Large Sea -Bird. — An Interesting Invalid. — A Weary 
Captive. — A Broken-Hearted Mother. — Study of the Heavens. — 
The Moon. — Chilian Civil War. — Concepcion. — A Growing City. 
— Commercial Importance. — Cultivating City Gardens on a New 
Plan. — Important Coal Mines. — Delicious Fruits. 

Magellan named this extreme southern land, of 
which we have been speaking, "the Land of Fire," 
because of the numerous fires which he, from his 
ships, saw on the shore at night, and which were then 
supposed by the discoverers to be of a volcanic char- 
acter. The fact probably was that the Indians did 
not fail to recognize the need of artificial heat, es- 
pecially at night, though they had not sufficient gen- 
ius to teach them to construct garments suitable to 
protect them from the inclemency of the weather. 
These fires were kindled in the open air, but the na- 
tives camped close about them, sleeping within their 
influence. 

Cape Horn, the extreme point of South America, 
on the outermost island of the Fuegian group, is a 
lofty, steep black rock, with a pointed summit, which 
has stood there for ages, like a watchful sentinel at 
his post. Two thirds of Patagonia and Terra del 
Fuego — the western part — belong to Chili, and the 



298 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

balance of both — the eastern part — belongs to the 
Argentine Republic. A recently consummated treaty 
between these two nationalities has fixed upon this 
final division of territory, and thus settled a question 
which has long been a source of dispute and ill feel- 
ing between them. This division makes Cape Horn 
belong to Chili, not a specially desirable possession, 
to be sure, but it is an indelible landmark. 

The sail along the coast northward after leaving 
the Pacific mouth of the strait affords very little va- 
riety of scenery ; the dull hue of the barren shore is 
without change of color for hundreds of miles, until 
the eye becomes weary of watching it, as we speed 
onward through the long, indolent ocean swell. Arid 
hills and small indentures form the coast line, but as 
we get further northward, this dreary sameness is 
varied by the appearance of an occasional small settle- 
ment, forming a group of dwellings of a rude char- 
acter, possibly a mining region or a fishing hamlet, 
connected with some business locality further inland. 
Sometimes a green valley is descried, which makes a 
verdant gulch opening quite down to the sea. 

This dense monotony becomes more and more te- 
dious, until one longs to get somewhere, anywhere, 
away from it. 

In the dearth of scenic interest, we fall to studying 
the various passengers traveling between the Pacific 
ports, a great variety of nationalities being repre- 
sented. Among those of the second-class was a hand- 
some Italian boy, with marvelous eyes of jet and a 



SEA EXPERIENCES. 299 

profusion of long black hair. He had a small organ 
hung about his neck, and carried an intelligent mon- 
key with him. The boy and his monkey joined in the 
performance of certain simple, amusing tricks to elicit 
mouey from the lookers-on. Both boy and monkey 
were happy in the result achieved, the former in lib- 
eral cash receipts, the latter in being fed liberally 
with cakes and bonbons. The capacity of monkeys 
for the rapid consumption of palatable dainties is one 
of the unsolved mysteries of nature. 

Schools of porpoises played about the hull of the 
ship, and clouds of sea-birds at times wheeled about 
the topmasts, or followed in the ship's wake watching 
for refuse from the cook's department. Occasionally 
the head of a large, deep-water turtle would appear 
for a moment above the surface, twisting its awkward 
neck to watch the course of the steamer, while shore- 
ward the mottled surface of the gently undulating 
waves betrayed the presence of myriads of small fish, 
over which hovered predatory birds of the gull tribe. 
Now and again one would swoop swiftly downward to 
secure a victim to its appetite. Few albatrosses were 
seen after leaving the Pacific mouth of the strait. 
They are lovers of the stormy Antarctic region, with 
the tempestuous atmosphere of which their great 
power of wing enables them to cope successfully. 
The author has seen one of these birds off the south- 
ern coast of New Zealand which spread eleven feet 
from tip to tip of its extended wings. It was caught 
with a floating .bait by one of the seamen and drawn 



300 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

on board ship, where it was measured, but not until 
a long contest of strength had taken place between 
men and bird. The albatross was slightly wounded 
in the mouth and throat by the process of catching 
him with a baited hook. But they are hardy crea- 
tures, and unless injured in some vital part pay lit- 
tle heed to a small wound. After this bird had been 
examined, it was liberated, and resumed its graceful 
flight about the ship as though nothing unusual had 
happened. 

An invalid girl of Spanish birth, who was perhaps 
sixteen years of age, very tenderly cared for by her 
mother, was propped up daily in a reclining seat upon 
deck, where she might find amusement in watching 
the sea and distant shore, while inhaling the saline 
tonic of the atmosphere. Poor child, how her large, 
dark eyes, pallid lips, and painful respiration ap- 
pealed to one's sympathy! It required no profes- 
sional knowledge to divine her approaching fate. She 
was really in the last stages of consumption, and was 
on her way to a popular sanitarium near the coast, 
hoping against reason that the change might prove 
restorative and of radical benefit. It was pleasant to 
observe how promptly every one on board strove to 
add to her comfort by simple attentions and services, 
and how the choicest bits from the table were secured 
to tempt her capricious appetite. The grateful mo- 
ther's eyes were often suffused with tears, carefully 
hidden from the gentle invalid. Her maternal heart 
was too full for the utterance even of thanks. 



A TOUCHING INCIDENT. 301 

''Ah," said she to us in a low tone of voice, "she is 
the last of my three children, two boys and this girl. 
The two boys faded away just like this. Do you think 
there is any hope for her, senor? " 

" Why not, senora? We should never cease to hope. 
The land breeze and the springs where you are going 
may do wonders." 

Heaven forgive us. The child's fate was only too 
plainly to be read in her attenuated form, and the dull 
action of her almost congested lungs. 

One day a small, weary sea-bird, newly out of its 
nest, flew on board our ship quite exhausted, and 
being easily secured, was given to the young girl to 
pet. It soon became quite at home in her lap, eating 
small bread crumbs and little bits of meat from her 
fingers. Confidence being thus established between 
them, the little half -fledged creature would not will- 
ingly leave its new-found benefactress. It seemed to 
be a providential occurrence, affording considerable 
diversion to the sick one. For a while, at least, she 
was aroused from the listlessness which is so very sig- 
nificant in consumption, and her whole heart went out 
to the confiding little waif. It was a pretty sight to 
see the bird nestle contentedly close to her bosom, the 
pale-faced girl scarcely less fragile than the little 
feathered stranger she had adopted. No one thought 
that Death was hovering so very near, yet the third 
night after the bird flew on board the young girl lay 
in her shroud, with an ivory crucifix, typical of the 
Eomish faith, in one hand, and the other resting upon 



302 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

the inanimate bird she had befriended, which had also, 
breathed its last. 

Attempted consolation to a freshly bleeding heart 
is almost always premature, and there are few, very 
few, human beings competent to offer it effectually 
under the best circumstances. The sad-eyed mother 
listened to a few well-meant words of this character, 
but slowly shook her head and made no reply. Time 
only could assuage the keenness of her sorrow. By 
and by she spoke, with her eyes still resting upon 
that pale, dead face, where nothing but a wonderful 
peace and serenity were now expressed. 

"Have birds souls, do you think? " she asked, in a 
low, trembling voice. 

"Possibly," was the reply; "but why do you ask? " 

"Because," she continued, speaking very slowly, 
"that tiny creature and my darling died almost at the 
same moment, and if so, her spirit would have com- 
pany on its way to the good God." 

The unconscious poetry of the thought, so quietly 
expressed by the sorrowing mother, as she sat beside 
the corpse with folded hands and burning eyes, which 
could not find the relief of tears, was very touching. 

The motor of the big ship throbbed on, the routine 
of duty continued unchanged, passengers ate, drank, 
and were merry, the sea-birds wheeled about us utter- 
ing their sharp contentious cries, and we pressed for- 
ward through the opposing wind and tide, as though 
nothing had happened. Only a mother's loving heart 
was broken. Only a soul gone to its God. Surely 



PHASES OF THE MOON. 303 

such sweet innocence must be welcome in heaven. 
But ah ! the great mystery of it all ! 

Most intelligent people will agree with us that no 
study known to science can compare with astronomy 
for absorbing interest. At sea one finds ample time, 
convenience, and incentive to study the sky, populous 
with countless hosts of constellations. Especially is 
it interesting to watch the numerous phases of the 
moon, beginning with her advent as a delicate cres- 
cent of pale light in the eastern sky, after the sun has 
set, and continuing to the period when she becomes 
full. Each succeeding night it is found that she has 
moved farther and farther westward, until, arriving at 
the full, she rises nearly at the same time that the 
sun sets. From the period of full moon, the disc of 
light diminishes nightly until the last quarter is 
reached, and the moon is then seen high over the 
ship's topmast head, before day breaks in the east. 
Thus she goes on waning, all the while drawing closer 
to the sun, until finally she becomes absorbed in his 
light. The interesting process completed, she again 
comes into view at twilight in the west, in her exqui- 
site crescent form, once more to pass through a similar 
series of changes. 

, The superstition of sailors touching the moonlight 
is curious. No foremast hand will sleep where it 
shines directly upon him. They are voluble in relat- 
ing many instances of comrades rendered melancholy- 
mad by so doing. " They talk about the moon mak- 
ing the ebb and flow of the tide," said an able sea- 



304 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

man to the author. "There's lots of queer things 
about the moon, but that 's d — d nonsense, saving 
your honor's presence." Thus Jack eagerly absorbs 
superstitious ideas, and ignores natural phenomena. 
No humble class of men are so intelligent in a general 
way, and yet at the same time so universally supersti- 
tious, as those who go down to the sea in ships. 

In coming on to the west coast it is natural, perhaps, 
for the reader to expect us to refer briefly to the late 
civil war in Chili, but we have not attempted in these 
notes to depict the local political condition of any of 
the states of South America. In the past they have 
most of them shown themselves as changeable as the 
wind, and remarks which would depict the status of 
to-day might be quite unsuited to that of to-mor- 
row. The average reader is sufficiently familiar with 
the struggle so lately ended in Chili. One party was 
led by the late President Balmaceda, in opposition to 
the other, known as the Congressional party. That 
which brought about this open warfare was the re- 
fusal of Congress any longer to recognize the presi- 
dent on account of his high-handed, illegal, and venal 
official conduct. A line will illustrate the cause of the 
outbreak. It was the Constitution of the country as 
against a Dictatorship. The President of the Chil- 
ian Republic, like the President of the United States, 
has a personal authority such as nowadays is wielded 
by few constitutional monarchs. Balmaceda proved 
to be a tyrant of the first water, abusing the power of 
his position to condemn to death those who opposed 



CONCEPCION. 305 

him, without even the semblance of a trial. He suc- 
ceeded in attaching most of the regular army to his 
cause by profuse promises and the free use of money, 
while the navy went almost bodily over to the side of 
Congress. The contest assumed revolutionary pro- 
portions, and many battles were fought. As a casual 
observer, the author heartily coincided with the Con- 
gressional party, and rejoices at their wholesale tri- 
umph. 

The suicidal act which ended Balmaceda's life was 
no heroic resort, but the deed of a coward fearing to 
face the consequences of his murderous career. It 
is not the man who has been actuated by high and 
noble sentiments who cuts his throat or blows out his 
brains. Such is the act of the cunning fraud who real- 
izes that he has not only totally failed in his object, 
but that his true character is known to the world. 
Suicide has been declared to be the final display of 
egoism, and it certainly leaves the world with one 
less thoroughly selfish character. The disappearance 
of such an individual may produce a momentary rip- 
ple on the surface of time, but it fails to leave any 
permanent mark. 

Nearly three hundred miles south of Santiago, cap- 
ital of Chili, on the Pacific coast, is situated the city 
of Concepcion. It stands on the right bank of the 
river Biobio, six or seven miles from its mouth, and 
contains about twenty-five thousand inhabitants. The 
people seem to be exceptionally active and enterpris- 
ing, though at this writing suffering from the effects 



306 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

of the late civil war. It is the third city in point 
of size and importance in the republic, and dates 
from over three hundred years ago. It will be re- 
membered also that it once held the place now occu- 
pied by Santiago as capital of the country. The city 
is built in the valley of Mocha, under the coast range 
of hills, and is justly famed, like Puebla in Mexico, 
for its pretty women and beautiful flowers. It is a 
clean and thrifty town, with handsome shops, a charm- 
ing plaza, and an attractive alameda. This latter 
deserves special mention. It is a mile long, and beau- 
tified with several rows of tall Lombardy poplars, the 
sight of which carried us to another hemisphere, where 
those lovely Italian plains stretch away from the en- 
virons of Milan towards the foothills of the neigh- 
boring Alps and the more distant Apennines. Great 
things are prognosticated for Concepcion in the near 
future by its friends, and it is already the principal 
town of southern Chili. The streets are well paved, 
and lined by handsome business blocks, together with 
pleasant dwelling-houses, built low, to avoid the effect 
of earthquakes, the universal material being sun-dried 
bricks, finished externally in stucco. The facades are 
painted in harlequin variety of colors, yellow, blue, 
and peach-blossom prevailing. The town has really 
more the appearance of a northern than a southern 
city, and has long been connected with Valparaiso by 
railway. 

Some of the most extensive coal mines on this part 
of the continent have been discovered in this vicinitv, 



TALCAHUANO. 307 

and are being worked on a large scale. In fact, Coro- 
nal, not far away, is the great coaling station on the 
Chilian coast for steamships bound to Europe or Pan- 
ama. One would suppose that this coal mining must 
be quite profitable, as we were told that twenty -five 
and even thirty dollars per ton was realized for it de- 
livered at the nearest tide-water. The port of Concep- 
cion is some seven miles from the city, where the river 
Biobio flows into the ocean at Talcahuano, — pro- 
nounced Tal-ca-wha'no, — a small town on Concep- 
cion Bay possessing an excellent harbor. There are 
here a large marine dock, an arsenal, and a seaman's 
hospital. Close by the shore is a spacious and conven- 
ient railway station. The bay is some six miles wide 
by seven in length. There is a resident population 
of nearly four thousand, who form an extremely active 
community. The majority of the houses are of a 
very humble character and, like those of Concepcion, 
are built of adobe. 

Spanish capitals in the West Indies and South 
America were originally placed, like Concepcion, some 
distance from the coast, to render them more secure 
against the attack of pirates and lawless sea-rovers, 
who might land from their vessels, burn a town on the 
seashore, after robbing it of all valuables, and easily 
make good their escape ; whereas to march inland and 
attack a town far from their base, or to proceed up a 
shallow river in boats for such a purpose, was a far 
more difficult, if not indeed an impossible thing to do. 
Thus Callao is the harbor of Lima; Valparaiso, of 



308 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

Santiago ; and Talcahuano, of Concepcion. The situ- 
ation of the last named capital is admirable, at the 
head of the bay, which affords one of the best harbors 
on the west coast of the continent. When the trans- 
continental railway from Buenos Ayres, on the Atlan- 
tic side, is finished, surmounting the passes of the An- 
des, — already "a foregone conclusion," — it will have 
its termination here at Talcahuano, which must then 
become a great shipping point for New Zealand and 
Australia. Half a dozen lines of European mail 
steamers already touch here regularly. The river is 
too shallow to admit of vessels drawing more than a 
few feet of water ascending it so far as Concepcion, but 
Talcahuano is all sufficient as a port. 

Few places have been so frequently devastated by 
fire, flood, and earthquakes, or so often ravaged by 
war, as has this interesting city. In the early days 
the Araucanian Indians put the settlers to the sword 
again and again. This was the bravest of all the 
native Indian tribes of South America, and is still 
an unconquered people. The city was laid in ruins 
so late as" 1835 by an earthquake, though no special 
signs of this destructive visitor are to be seen here to- 
day. Still, one cannot but feel that with such possi- 
bilities hanging over the locality, there must be few 
people willing to expend freely of their means for 
substantial building purposes, or to make Concepcion 
a permanent place of abode. Human nature adapts 
itself to all exigencies, however, and the place grows 
rapidly, notwithstanding the discouraging circum- 



THE TELEGRAPH. 309 

stances which we have named. It is not the native 
but the foreign element of the population which is do- 
ing so much for this region. Were the mingled na- 
tive race to be left to themselves, there would be few 
signs of progress evinced; they would rapidly lapse 
into a condition of semi-barbarism. The Chilian 
proper is a very poor creature as regards morals, in- 
telligence, or true manhood; his instincts are brutal 
and his aims predaceous. 

Like all South American cities, Concepcion is laid 
out by rule and compass, the fairly broad streets cross- 
ing each other at right angles. There is a large and 
costly cathedral, but a wholesome fear of earthquakes 
has caused it to be left without the usual twin towers, 
which gives it an unfinished appearance. The place 
also contains other churches, a well-appointed theatre, 
two hospitals, and several edifices devoted to char- 
itable purposes. Opposite the cathedral stands the 
Intendencia, a large and handsome government house. 
Telephones and electric lights have long been adopted, 
and the telegraph poles do much abound. In these 
foreign places, so far away from home, to see the 
streets lined, as they are with us, by big, tall poles, 
holding aloft a maze of wires, is very suggestive ; but 
where can one go that they are not? It is curious to 
realize that we can step into an office close at hand 
and promptly communicate with any part of the 
world. We may have sailed over the ocean many 
thousands of miles, and have consumed months to reach 
the spot where we stand, but electricity, like thought, 



310 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

annihilates space, and will take our message instantly 
to its destination, though it be at the farthest end of 
the globe. These marvelous facilities are no longer 
confined to populous centres. Electricity not only 
bears our messages to the uttermost parts of the world, 
but it propels the tramway cars in Rome, Boston, and 
Munich, while it also lights the streets of New York, 
Auckland in New Zealand, as well as of London and 
Honolulu. 

The importance of Concepcion is manifest from the 
fact that several new railway connections terminating 
here have lately been accomplished; but the impor- 
tant event already referred to, of the transcontinental 
railway, will finally insure her commercial greatness. 
The town is surrounded by a widespread, fertile coun- 
try, abounding in both mineral and agricultural 
wealth, equal to, if not surpassing, any other province 
in Chili. The city was financially strong before the 
late civil war, and has still some very wealthy resi- 
dents. The principal bank of Concepcion, with a 
capital of one million dollars, paid a dividend to its 
stockholders in 1890 of sixteen per cent, on the pre- 
vious year's business. The cathedral and govern- 
ment house, already spoken of, front on the plaza, a 
large open square ornamented with statuary, trees, 
and flowers, the latter kept in most exquisite order 
and constant bloom by means of a singular and ori- 
ginal device. It seems that each separate plot of these 
grounds is owned or cared for by a different family 
of the citizens, and that a spirit of emulation is thus 



TREATMENT OF THE DEAD. 311 

excited by the effort of the several parties to make 
their special plot excel in its beauty and fragrance. 
This keeps the whole plaza in a lovely condition, and 
makes it the pride of the city. 

Society and business circles are mostly composed of 
foreigners, the German element largely predominat- 
ing. The native, or humbler classes, as we have al- 
ready intimated, are a wretchedly low people. They 
"wake" their dead before burial, much after the 
style which prevails in Ireland, except that the pro- 
cess is more exaggerated in manner. Drinking and 
debauchery characterize these occasions, which are 
continued often for three days at a time, or so long as 
the means for indulgence in excess last. In case of 
youthful deaths, the child's cheeks are painted red, 
and the head is crowned in a fantastic manner, the 
body being dressed and placed in a sitting position, 
thus forming a strange and hideous sight. Such 
treatment of a corpse could only be tolerated by a 
barbarous people. In the environs of the town, Laz- 
arus jostles Dives. There are here many hovels, as 
well as a better class of residences. Some of them 
are wretchedly poor, built of mud and bamboo, the 
inhabitants half naked and wholly starved, if one may 
judge by their appearance. On Saturday, which in 
Spanish towns and cities is called "poor day," the 
streets of Concepcion are full of either assumed or 
real mendicants. The Spanish race is one of chronic 
beggars, — they seem born so. Scarcely less of a nui- 
sance than the beggars are the army of half -starved, 



312 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

mongrel, neglected dogs, that throng in the streets of 
the city, rivaling Constantinople. 

It should be mentioned that Concepcion has a good 
system of tramway service, and that the cars have 
attached to them a class of neat, pretty, and modest 
girls for conductors, who wear natty straw hats, snow- 
white aprons, and are supplied with a leather cash 
bag hung by a strap about the neck. It seems rather 
incongruous that while so- many evidences of real 
progress abound in this city, water, the prime neces- 
sity of life, should be peddled about the streets by 
the bucketful. Now is the time to perfect a system 
of drainage, and to introduce an adequate supply of 
good water, from easily available sources. 

The inexhaustible coal fields already mentioned, 
which are situated but a few miles away, must prove 
to be a lasting source of prosperity to Concepcion. 
They are far more important and valuable, all things 
considered, than a gold or silver mine near at hand 
would be. Indeed, it is found in the long run that 
the latter kind of mineral discoveries do not always 
tend to the material benefit of the community in 
which they are found. The earth produces far more 
profitable crops than gold and precious stones, even 
when considered in the most mercenary light. The 
business prospects of Concepcion, as we have pointed 
out in detail, are exceedingly promising. That the 
city is destined eventually to rival Valparaiso seems 
more than probable, and yet there is another side to 
this favorable aspect thus presented, which it is not 



TROPICAL FRUITS. 313 

wise to ignore. True, the climate is equable and 
healthy, but that great drawback, the liability to 
earthquakes and tidal waves, still remains, like a 
dark, portending shadow. In spite of this startling 
possibility there is something of a "boom" already 
instituted, at this writing, as to the prices of land in 
and about both the port and city of Concepcion. It 
is a fact that people will soon become calloused and 
heedless of almost any familiar danger. Jack turns 
in and quickly falls to sleep, when the watch below is 
called and relieves him from the deck, though the ship 
is in the midst of cyclone latitudes, and while a half- 
gale is blowing. The people of Torre del Grecco, at 
the base of the volcano, do not sleep any less soundly 
to-day because Pompeii was utterly destroyed by 
Vesuvius eighteen or nineteen centuries ago. The 
earthquake of 1835 first shook Talcahuano nearly to 
pieces, and then completed its destruction by a tidal 
wave which swept what remained of it into the sea. 

It goes without saying that most of the fruits and 
staple products of the tropics are to be found both 
at Concepcion and at the port of Talcahuano. Each 
place we visit seems to have some specialty in this 
line. Here, it is the watermelon. Favored by the 
soil and the climate, this fruit is developed to its 
maximum in weight, richness of flavor, and general 
perfection. They are sold cheap enough everywhere. 
A centavo will buy a large ripe one. Street carts 
and donkeys are laden with them, and so are the 
decks of all outgoing vessels. It is both food and 



314 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

drink to the poor peons, who consume the fruit in 
quantities strongly suggestive of cholera, dropsy, or 
some other dreadful illness. Any one accustomed to 
travel in our Southern States, in the right season of 
the year, will have observed how voraciously the negro 
population, young and old, eat of the cheap, ripe crop 
of watermelons ; but these South American peons have 
a capacity for storage and digestion of this really 
wholesome article, beyond all comparison. A child 
not more than ten years of age will devour the ripe 
portion of a large melon in a few minutes, and no ill 
effects seem to follow. An adult eats two at a meal 
which wou]d weigh, we are afraid to say how much, 
but they are considerably larger than the average 
melons which are brought to New England from the 
South. After all, the watermelon is healthful food, 
though it is more filling than nourishing. It will be 
remembered that the famous fasting individual, Dr. 
Tanner, after eating nothing for forty days and forty 
nights, took for his first article of nourishment, at the 
close of this time of fasting, half a watermelon, and 
that he retained and digested it successfully. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Valparaiso. — Principal South American Port of the Pacific. — A 
Good Harbor. — Tallest Mountain on this Continent. — The News- 
paper Press. — Warlike Aspect. — Girls as Car Conductors. — 
Chilian Exports. — Foreign Merchants. — Effects of Civil War. — 
Gambling in Private Houses. — Immigration. — Culture of the 
Grape. — Agriculture. — Island of Juan Fernandez. 

Valparaiso — " Vale of Paradise " — was thus 
fancifully named because of its assumed loveliness. 
True, it is beautifully situated, and is a fine city of 
its class, located in an admirable semicircular bay, 
not upon one, but upon many bills, backed by a cres- 
cent-shaped mountain range. But when one compares 
its harbor to that of Naples, or Sydney in Australia, 
for picturesqueness of scenery, as is often done, it only 
provokes invidious remarks. The matchless harbor 
of Rio Janeiro, on the eastern coast of the continent, 
already fully described in these pages, is far more 
charming in general effect and in all of its surround- 
ings, not to mention that it is more than twenty times 
as large. Valparaiso is the principal seaport of Chili, 
and indeed, for the present, it is the main port of the 
entire west coast of South America. By consulting 
the map it will be readily seen that Chili must ever 
be a maritime nation, depending more upon an effec- 
tive navy than an army. The possession of the na- 



316 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

tional ships of war by the Congressional party in the 
revolution so lately terminated gave them virtual 
control of the cities along the coast, at the outbreak 
of the emeute, and this means they employed against 
the Presidential party with the most ruthless effect. 
They did not hesitate to savagely cannonade and shell 
a city, though two thirds of the occupants were their 
own friends and supporters, provided it was held os- 
tensibly, and for the time being only, by the support- 
ers of Balmaceda. The outrageous bombardment of 
Iquique is an instance in illustration of this charge. 
The Chilian delights to be cruel; it is his instinct to 
destroy and to plunder. He is by nature boastful, 
passionate, and headstrong. This disposition seems 
to be born in the race, is in fact a matter of hered- 
ity, fostered by bull-fights and kindred entertain- 
ments. But the country must now pay for the enor- 
mous destruction of property of which the directors 
of the civil war have been guilty. The European 
powers have already begun to send in their demands 
for damages done to their non-combatant merchants. 
England comes first with a bill calling for payment 
of sixty million dollars. Spain, Italy, and Germany 
will follow. It is estimated that a hundred million 
dollars will be required to settle these foreign de- 
mands. Chili must pay. There is no avoiding it. 
Reckless destruction will be found to be rather an ex- 
pensive amusement in future for these South Ameri- 
cans. Their outrageous and murderous treatment of 
citizens of the United States who land upon their 



CHILIAN TERRITORY. 317 

shore is also like to cost them a heavy sum in way of 
penalty. The present is a good opportunity to teach 
them a salutary lesson. The Chilians will not be in a 
hurry to repeat crimes which they find entail sure and 
swift punishment. 

A majority of the population of Chili lives, as a 
rule, within a few miles of the sea, and her coast line 
extends from Cape Horn northward over two thou- 
sand miles to the borders of Bolivia and Peru. With 
this extraordinary length, she has an average width of 
hardly more than a hundred miles, bordered on the 
east by the western slope of the Andes, whose eastern 
side belongs to the Argentine Republic, and on the 
west by the Pacific Ocean. The present estimated 
area of the republic is about two hundred and twenty 
thousand square miles, containing a population of 
considerably less than three millions, though its capa- 
cious territory could be so divided as to make twenty- 
five states as large as Massachusetts. Sixteen hun- 
dred miles of steam railroads render the principal 
sections of Chili accessible to one another. The coast 
line has from time to time been undergoing decided 
changes through volcanic action. In 1822, after a 
visible commotion, the shore was permanently raised 
three feet at Valparaiso, and four feet at Quintere. 
This change extended over an area of a hundred thou- 
sand miles. Another but lesser elevation took place 
in the same region in 1835. 

There seems to be no accounting for the vagaries of 
a land subject to volcanic influences. 



318 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

The harbor of Valparaiso is well protected on the 
east, south, and west, but it is open to the north, 
from which direction come very heavy winds and 
seas during a couple of months in the winter season, 
often causing serious casualties among the shipping 
which may chance to be anchored in the harbor. 
A "norther " is as much dreaded here as it is at Vera 
Cruz and along the Gulf of Mexico generally. 

The entrance to the harbor is on its north side, and 
is a mile in width, more or less. The flags of nearly 
all nations are seen here, though the Stars and Stripes 
are less frequently to be met with than others. The 
city lies at the base of the closely surrounding hills, 
up whose sides and in the ravines the dwelling-houses 
have been constructed, tier above tier. Over all, 
further inland, looms the frosted head of grand old 
Aconcagua, twenty-two thousand feet and more in 
height, believed to be the tallest mountain in the 
western hemisphere. This mighty member of the 
Andean Cordillera is said to be ninety miles away, 
but it is so lofty and dominant, as seen through the 
clear atmosphere, that it appears almost within can- 
non range. At this writing the harbor presents 
quite a warlike aspect. English, American, French, 
German, and Chilian men-of-war are anchored here, 
looking after their several national interests, as af- 
fected by the civil war. The bugle calls of the sev- 
eral ships, the morning and evening guns, the display 
of naval bunting, together with the flitting hither and 
thither of well-manned boats, all unite to form a gay 



SANTIAGO. 319 

and suggestive scene. The Chilian cruisers in the 
hands of the revolutionists would not hesitate to bat- 
ter down any government buildings on the coast, de- 
stroying incidentally the domestic residences and mer- 
chandise of non-combatants, were they not restrained 
by the presence of foreign flags and guns. When 
Balmaceda undertook by a proclamation to shut up 
the ports of Chili, and declared them blockaded, he 
was told by the several naval commanders on the 
coast that he could not establish a paper blockade, 
and that if the merchant ships of their several coun- 
tries were in any way interfered with, he would have 
to fight somebody else besides the revolutionists. 
The ports were therefore kept as open to legitimate 
commerce as they ever were. 

The author was disappointed at not being able to 
reach Santiago, the capital of Chili, which is situated 
at the foot of the western slope of the Andes, nearly 
two thousand feet above tide-water. It is connected 
with Valparaiso by railway, and under ordinary cir- 
cumstances can be reached in eight hours. The dif- 
ficulties caused by the civil war, and the suspicion 
with which all foreigners were regarded, proved im- 
possible to surmount without a protracted effort, and 
submitting to any amount of red tape. Santiago 
was founded by one of Pizarro's captains, in 1541, 
and now contains about two hundred thousand inhab- 
itants. There are some Americans and many English 
resident in Santiago, together with Germans and 
Frenchmen, the foreigners being mostly merchants. 



320 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

We were toll of two familiar statues which are to be 
seen in a public square of the city, in front of the post- 
office. One represents George Washington, the other 
Abraham Lincoln, both of which were stolen from 
Lima during the late conflict between Chili and Peru. 

But this is a digression. Let us once more return 
to the commercial port of Valparaiso. 

A considerable portion of this city has been re- 
claimed from the sea, and still more land suitable for 
the erection of business warehouses near the shore is 
being added to this part of the town. Local enter- 
prise, however, is pretty much suspended for the time 
being, owing to the disturbed condition of political 
affairs. The mountains near at hand supply ample 
stone and soil for the purpose of extending the area 
of this business portion of the town. Sixty or seventy 
years ago, the city contained only a single street, on 
the edge of the harbor; to-day it has all the appear- 
ance and belongings of a great commercial capital, 
and a population of a hundred and thirty thousand. 
Except Rio Janeiro and Buenos Ayres, we saw nowhere 
thoroughfares more full of energetic life and business 
activity. The main avenue is the Calle Victoria, 
which runs round the entire water front, occupied by 
the banks, hotels, insurance offices, and the best shops 
in the town. 

There are four large daily newspapers published in 
Valparaiso, whose united circulation exceeds thirty 
thousand copies. "El Mercurio" has the eminent 
respectability of age, having been published regularly 



VALPARAISO. 321 

for a period of half a century. The facility for news- 
gathering is very good, as this city is connected with 
the world at large by submarine cable, but no such 
detailed and complete summary of intelligence is at- 
tempted as our North American journals exhibit 
daily. While on this subject, we may add that there 
are no newspapers in Europe, or elsewhere, which will 
compare with those of the United States in the aver- 
age ability and journalistic merit which characterizes 
them. Y[e do not say this in a boastful spirit, but 
simply make the statement as an incontrovertible 
fact. 

Some of the business structures along the harbor 
front of Valparaiso are fine edifices architecturally, 
and many of the retail stores will compare favorably 
with the average of ours in Washington Street, Bos- 
ton. The elegant class of goods displayed in some of 
these establishments shows that the population is an 
habitually extravagant and free-living one. We were 
told, by way of illustration, that millionaires were as 
plenty as blackberries before the late civil war, while 
many wealthy men, foreseeing the catastrophe which 
was about to occur, shrewdly prepared for it, and 
by careful management saved their property intact. 
Many of the private houses on Victoria Street are 
spacious, elegant, and costly, the occupants living in 
regal style, to support which must cost a very heavy 
annual outlay. It appears that President Balmaceda 
discovered, during the late struggle, where and how 
to lay his hands upon the resources of a few of- these 



322 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

citizens, and that such he completely impoverished, 
under one pretext and another, using their property 
to support his armed minions, and to swell the ag- 
gregate of funds which he sent for deposit in his 
own name to Europe. One or two cases of this sort 
were related to us in which the citizens were not only 
made to give up the whole of their private property, 
but were finally imprisoned and sentenced to death 
upon a charge of treason, without even the semblance 
of a trial ! 

It is no marvel, to those who know the facts of his 
career, that a man who was guilty of such crimes, 
when at last brought to bay, finding himself betrayed 
and deserted by his pretended friends, should have 
blown out his own brains. The posthumous papers 
which he left, and wherein he tries to pose as a mar- 
tyr, are simply a ludicrous failure. Jose Manuel 
Balmaceda was in the fifty-second year of his age 
when he committed suicide, and was at the time hiding 
for fear of the infuriated citizens of Santiago, who 
would certainly have hanged the would - be dictator 
without the least hesitation or formality, if they could 
have got possession of his person. 

The tramway-cars of Valparaiso are of the two- 
story pattern, like those of Copenhagen and New Or- 
leans, also found in many of the European cities. 
They have as conductors, like Concepcion, very pretty 
half-breed girls, who appear to thoroughly understand 
their business, and to fulfill its requirements to univer- 
sal satisfaction. If an intoxicated or unruly person 



CHILIAN COSTUMES. 323 

appears on the cars, the conductress does not attempt 
personally to eject him. She has only to hold up 
her hand, and the nearest policeman, of whom there 
are always a goodly number about, jumps on to the 
car and settles the matter in short order. Girls were 
thus first employed in order that the men who ordi- 
narily fill these places might be drafted into the army, 
during the late war between Chili and Peru, and as 
the system proved to be a complete success, it has been 
continued ever since. The fare charged on these tram- 
cars is five cents for each inside passenger, and half 
that sum for the outside ; and, as in Paris, when the 
seats are all full, a little sign is shown upon the car, 
signifying that no more persons will be admitted, 
none being allowed to stand. The same rule is en- 
forced in London, and the thought suggested itself as 
to whether our West End Railway Company of Bos- 
ton might not take an important hint therefrom. 

The ladies and gentlemen of the city are a well- 
dressed class, the former adopting Parisian costumes, 
and the gentlemen wearing a full dress of dark broad- 
cloth, with tall stove-pipe hats. The women of the 
more common class wear the national "manta," and 
the men the "poncha." The former is a dark, soft 
shawl which covers in part the head and face of the 
wearer. The latter is a long, striped shawl, with a 
slit cut in the centre, through which the head of the 
wearer is thrust. Nothing could be more simple in 
construction than both of these garments, and yet 
they are somehow very picturesque. 



324 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

As we have already intimated, it is soon learned, 
upon landing at any port of the commercial world, 
what the staple products of the neighborhood are, by 
simply noting the visible merchandise made ready for 
shipment. Here we have sugar, wool, and cotton 
prevailing over all other articles. Guano and nitrate, 
which also form specialties here, are represented, 
though the supply of the former is pretty much ex- 
hausted. The nitrate trade is controlled by an Eng- 
lishman of large fortune, Colonel North, known here 
as the "Nitrate King." This valuable fertilizer is 
the deposit of the nitrate of soda in the beds of lakes 
long since dried up, the waters of which originally 
contained in solution large quantities of this material. 
These lakes in olden times received the flow of a great 
water-shed, and having no outlet, save by evapora- 
tion, accumulated and precipitated at the bottom the 
chemical elements flowing into them from the sur- 
rounding country. The article is now dug up and 
put through a certain process, then shipped to foreign 
countries as a fertilizer, believed to put new heart into 
exhausted soil. England consumes an immense quan- 
tity of it annually, and many ships are regularly em- 
ployed in its transportation. 

The custom house, situated near the landing at 
Valparaiso, is a somewhat remarkable structure, hav- 
ing a long, low facade surmounted by tall, handsome 
towers. This is eminently the business part of the 
town, and is called "El Puerto." The larger share 
of the residences of the merchants and well-to-do citi- 



EDUCATION. 325 

zens is situated on the hillsides, to reach which it is 
necessary to ascend long nights of steps. At certain 
points elevators are also supplied by which access is 
gained to the upper portions of the town, after the 
fashion^ already described at Bahia, on the east coast. 
The majority of people doing business in Valparaiso 
are English, and English is the almost universal lan- 
guage. Even the names upon the city signs are sug- 
gestive in this direction. Among the public houses 
are the "Queen's Arms," the "Royal Oak, "the "Red 
Lion," and so on. Besides an English school, there 
are three churches belonging to that nationality. 
There are numerous free schools, both of a primary 
and advanced character, an elaborately organized col- 
lege, two or three theatres, and the usual charitable 
establishments, including a public library. The 
principal part of the city is lighted by electricity, 
and the telephone is in general use. A special effort 
has lately been made to promote the education of the 
rising generation in Chili, and we know of no field 
where the endeavor would be more opportune. Such 
an effort is never out of place, but here it is impera- 
tively called for. The almost universal ignorance of 
the common people of Chili is deplorable, and little 
improvement can be hoped for as regards their moral 
or physical condition, except through the means of 
educating the youth of the country. A commissioner- 
general of education was appointed some time ago, 
who has already visited Europe and North America 
to study the best modern methods adopted in the pub- 



326 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

lie schools. This is a tangible evidence of improve- 
ment which speaks for itself, and is a great stride of 
this people in the right direction. Of course the 
late political crisis will greatly retard the hoped-for 
results, just as it will put Chili back some yaars in 
her national progress, whatever may be the final out- 
come in other respects. 

Gambling is a prevailing national trait in this coun- 
try, by no means confined to any one class of the 
commimity. The street gamin plays for copper cen- 
tavos, while the pretentious caballero does the same 
for gold coins. It is quite common in family circles, 
held to be very aristocratic, to see the gaming table 
laid out every evening, as regularly as the table upon 
which the meals are served. Money in large sums is 
lost and won with assumed indifference in these pri- 
vate circles, whole fortunes being sometimes sacrificed 
at a single sitting. Gambling seems to be held ex- 
empt from the censure of either church or state, since 
both officials and priests indulge in all sorts of games 
of chance. There are the usual public lotteries always 
going on to tempt the poorer classes of the people, and 
to capture their hard-earned wages. 

One virtue must be freely accorded to the business 
centre of this city, namely, that of cleanliness, in 
which respect it is far in advance of most of the cap- 
itals on the east coast of South America. Being the 
first seaport of any importance in the South Pacific, 
it is naturally a place of call for European bound 
steamers coming from New Zealand and Australia, 



EMIGRATION. 327 

as well as those sailing from Panama and San Fran- 
cisco. In view of the fact that six hundred and fifty- 
thousand people emigrate from Europe annually, seek- 
ing new homes in foreign lands, the Chilian gov- 
ernment, in common with some others of the South 
American states, has for several years past held 
forth the liberal inducement of substantial aid to all 
bona fide settlers from foreign countries. Each new- 
comer who is the head of a family is given two hun- 
dred acres of available land, together with lumber and 
other materials for building a comfortable dwelling- 
house, also a cart, a plough, and a reasonable amount 
of seed for planting. Besides these favors which we 
have enumerated, some other important considerations 
are offered. Only a small number, comparatively 
speaking, of emigrants have availed themselves of 
such liberal terms, and these have been mostly Ger- 
mans. If such an offer were properly promulgated 
and laid before the poor peasantry of Ireland and 
Spain and Italy, it would seem as though many of 
those people would hasten to accept it in the hope 
of bettering their condition in life. Whether such 
a result would follow emigration would of course de- 
pend upon many other things besides the liberality 
of the offer of the Chilian government. The Ger- 
mans form a good class of emigrants, perhaps the 
best, often bringing with them considerable pecuniary 
means, together with habits of industry. The late 
civil war has put a stop to emigration for a period at 
least, and will interfere with its success for some time 



328 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

to come, if indeed Chili ever assumes quite so favor- 
able a condition as she has sacrificed. 

There are some districts, including Limache and 
Pauquehue, where grape culture has been brought to 
great perfection, and where it is conducted on a very 
large scale. Wine-making is thus taking its place as 
one of the prosperous industries of the country. The 
amount of the native product consumed at home is 
very large, and a regular system of exports to other 
South American ports has been established. All of 
the most important modes of culture, such as have 
been proven most successful in France and California, 
have been carefully adopted here. Tramways are laid 
to intersect the various parts of these extensive vine- 
yards, to aid in the gathering and transportation of 
the ripe fruit, while the appliances for expressing the 
juice of the grape are equally well systematized. One 
vineyard, belonging to the Consino family, near San- 
tiago, covers some two hundred acres, closely planted 
with selected vines from France, Switzerland, and 
California, the purpose being to retain permanently 
such grades as are found best adapted to the soil and 
the climate of Chili. The white wines are the most 
popular here, but red Burgundy brands are produced 
with good success. The vines are trained on triple 
lines of wires, stretched between iron posts, present- 
ing an appearance of great uniformity, the long rows 
being planted about three or four feet apart. Every 
arrangement for artificial irrigation is provided, it 
being an absolute necessity in this district of Chili. 



GEOGRAPHY OF CHILI. 329 

Trenches are cut along the rows of vines, through 
which the water, from ample reservoirs, is permitted 
to flow at certain intervals ; particularly when the grape 
begins to swell and ripen. The fruit is not trodden 
here, as it is in Italy, but is thoroughly expressed by 
means of proper machinery. 

Geographically, Chili is, as we have intimated, a 
long, narrow country, lying south of Peru and Bo- 
livia, ribbon-like in form, and divided into nineteen 
provinces. It has been considerably enlarged by con- 
quest from both of the nationalities just named; in- 
cluding the important territory of Terapaca. The 
name "Chili" signifies snow, with which the tops of 
most of the mountain ranges upon the eastern border 
are always covered. Still, extending as she does, 
from latitude 24° south to Cape Horn, she embraces 
every sort of climate, from burning heat to glacial 
frosts, while nearly everything that grows can be pro- 
duced upon her soil. Though she has less than three 
million inhabitants, still her territory exceeds that 
of any European nationality except Russia. The 
manifest difference between the aggregate of her pop- 
ulation and that of her square miles does not speak 
very favorably for the healthful character of the cli- 
mate. There is no use in attempting to disguise the 
fact that Chili has rather a hard time of it, with 
sweeping epidemics, frequent earthquakes, and de- 
vouring tidal waves. The country contains thirty 
volcanoes, none of which are permanently active, but 
all of which have their periods of eruption, and most 



330 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

of which exhibit their dangerous nature by emitting 
sulphurous smoke and ashes. The unhygienic condi- 
tion of life among her native races accounts for the 
large death-rate prevailing at all times, and especially 
among the peon children, thus preventing a natural 
increase in the population. Unless a liberal immi- 
gration can be induced, Chili must annually decrease 
in population. As regards the foreign whites and 
the educated natives who indulge in no extravagant 
excesses, living with a reasonable regard for hygiene, 
doubtless Chili is as healthy as most countries, but 
there is still to be remembered the erratic exhibitions 
of nature, a possibility always hanging like the sword 
of Damocles over this region. A whole town may, 
without the least warning, vanish from the face of the 
earth in the space of five minutes, or be left a mass 
of ruins. 

It is in the districts of the north that the rich mines 
and the nitrate fields are found, but the central por- 
tion of the country, and particularly towards the 
south, is the section where the greatest agricultural 
results are realized, and which will continue to yield 
in abundance after the mineral wealth shall have be- 
come quite exhausted. The southern portion of the 
country embraces Patagonia, which has lately been 
divided between Chili and the Argentine Republic. 
In short, Chili is no exception to the rule that agricul- 
ture, and not mining products, is the true and perma- 
nent reliance of any country. 

A little less than four hundred miles off the shore 



JUAN FERNANDEZ. 331 

of Valparaiso, on the same line of latitude, is the 
memorable island of Juan Fernandez. It is politi- 
cally an unimportant dependence of Chili, though of 
late years it has indirectly been made the means of 
producing some income for the national treasury. 
There was a period in which Chili maintained a penal 
colony here, but the convicts mutinied, and massacred 
the officers who had charge of them. These convicts 
succeeded in getting away from the island on passing 
ships. No attempt has been made since that time to 
reestablish a penal colony on this island. To-day 
the place is occupied by thriving vegetable garden- 
ers, and raisers of stock. Every intelligent youth 
will remember the island as the spot where De Foe 
laid the scene of his popular and fascinating story 
of "Robinson Crusoe." The island is about twenty 
miles long by ten broad, and is covered with dense 
tropical verdure, gentle hills, sheltered valleys, and 
thrifty woods. Juan Fernandez resembles the Azores 
in the . North Atlantic. Though generally spoken 
of in the singular, there are actually three islands 
here, forming a small, compact group, known as 
Inward Island, Outward Island, and Great Island. 
Many intelligent people think that the story of 
Robinson Crusoe is a pure fabrication, but this is 
not so. De Foe availed himself of an actual occur- 
rence, and put it into readable form, adding a few 
romantic episodes to season the story for the taste of 
the million. It was in a measure truth, which he 
stamped with the image of his own genius. Occa- 



332 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

sionally some enthusiastic admirer of De Foe comes 
thousands of miles out of the beaten track of travel to 
visit this group of islands, by the way of Valparaiso. 
Grapes, figs, and other tropical fruits abound at Juan 
Fernandez. It is said that several thousand people 
might be easily supported by the natural resources of 
these islands, and the abundance of fish which fill the 
neighboring waters. An English naval commander 
stopped here in 1741, to recruit his ships' crews, and 
to repair some damages. While here he caused vari- 
ous seeds to be planted for the advantage of any mar- 
iners who might follow. The benefit of this Christian 
act has been realized by many seamen since that date. 
Fruits, grain, and vegetables are now produced by 
spontaneous fertility annually, which were not before 
to be found here. The English commander also left 
goats and swine to run wild, and to multiply, and 
these animals are numerous there to-day. 

Juan Fernandez has one tall peak, nearly three 
thousand feet high, which the pilots point out long 
before the rest of the island is seen. It was from this 
lofty lookout that Alexander Selkirk was wont to 
watch daily in the hope of sighting some passing ship, 
by which he might be released from his imprisonment. 
There are about one hundred residents upon the group 
to-day, it having been leased by the Chilian govern- 
ment as a stock ranch for the breeding of goats and 
cattle, as well as for the raising of vegetables for the 
market of Valparaiso. There are said to be thirty 
thousand horned cattle, and many sheep, upon these 



BURIED TREASURES. 333 

islands. Occasional excursion parties are made up 
at Valparaiso to visit the group by steamboat, for tlie 
purpose of shooting seals and mountain goats. Sto- 
ries are told of Juan Fernandez having been formerly 
made the headquarters of pirates who came from 
thence to ravage the towns on the coast of the conti- 
nent, and it is believed by the credulous that much of 
the ill-gotten wealth of the buccaneers still remains 
hidden there. In search of this supposititious treasure, 
expeditions have been fitted out in past years at 
Valparaiso, and many an acre of ground has been 
vainly dug over in seeking for piratical gold, supposed 
to be buried there. Some of the shrewd stock raisers 
of Juan Fernandez are ready, for a consideration, to 
point out to seekers the most probable places where 
such treasures might have been buried. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

The Port of Callao. — A Submerged City. — Peruvian Exports. — 
A Dirty and Unwholesome Town. — Cinchona Bark. — The Andes. 

— The Llama. — A National Dance. — City of Lima. — An Old and 
Interesting Capital. — Want of Rain. — Pizarro and His Crimes. — 
A Grand Cathedral. — Chilian Soldiers — Costly Churches of Peru. 

— Roman Catholic Influence. — Desecration of the Sabbath. 

The passage northward from Valparaiso to Callao 
occupies about four days by the steamers which do 
not stop at intermediate ports. We entered the har- 
bor in the early morning while a soft veil of mist en- 
shrouded the bay, but as the sun fairly shone upon 
the view, this aerial screen rapidly disappeared, reveal- 
ing Callao just in front of us, making the foreground 
of a pleasing and vivid picture, the middle distance 
filled by the ancient city of Lima, and the far back- 
ground by alpine ranges. Callao is an ill-built 
though important town, with a population of about 
thirty thousand, and serves as the port for Lima, the 
capital of Peru. It has a good harbor, well protected 
by the island of San Lorenzo, which, with the small 
island of El Fronton, and the Palminos reef, forms 
a protection against the constant swell of the ocean. 
There are nearly always one or two ships of war be- 
longing to foreign nations in the harbor, and large 
steamships from the north or the south. The sailing 



EARTHQUAKES. 335 

distance from Panama is fifteen hundred miles. The 
Callao of to-day is comparatively modern. Old Cal- 
lao formerly stood on a tongue of land opposite San 
Lorenzo, but in 1746 an earthquake submerged it and 
drowned some five thousand of the inhabitants, found- 
ered a score of ships, and stranded a Spanish man-of- 
war. In calm weather one can row a boat over the 
spot where the old city stood, and see the ruins far 
down in the deep waters. The present city has twice 
been near to sharing the same fate: once in 1825, 
and again in 1868. It is, therefore, not assuming 
too much to say that Callao may at any time disap- 
pear in the most summary fashion. The sunken ruins 
in the harbor are a melancholy and suggestive sight, 
the duplicate of which we do not believe can be found 
elsewhere on the globe. Though seismic disturbances 
are of such frequent occurrence, and are so destruc- 
tive on the west coast of South America, they are 
hardly known on the Atlantic or eastern side of the 
continent. That they are frequently coincident with 
volcanic disturbances indicates that there is an inti- 
mate connection between them, but yet earthquakes 
often occur in regions where volcanoes do not exist. 
This was the case, not long since, as most of our 
readers will remember, in South Carolina. It has 
been noticed by careful observers that animals become 
uneasy on the eve of such an event, which would seem 
to show that earthquakes sometimes owe their origin 
to extraordinary atmospheric conditions. 

San Lorenzo is about six miles from Callao, and is 



336 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

four miles long by one in width. It is utterly bar- 
ren, presenting a mass of brownish gray color, eleven 
hundred feet high, at whose base there is ever a broad, 
snow-white ruffle, caused by the never-ceasing ocean 
swell breaking into foam. An English smelting com- 
pany has established extensive works near the shore of 
the island, for the reduction of silver and copper ores. 
The approach to Callao from the sea affords a fine 
view of the undulating shore, backed by the snowy 
Cordilleras, the shabby buildings of the town, with 
the dismantled castle of San Felipe forming the fore- 
ground. In landing one must be cautious : there is 
always considerable swell in the harbor. 

The staple products of this region are represented 
by packages of merchandise prepared for shipment, 
and which are the first to attract one's attention upon 
landing, such as cinchona bark from the native for- 
ests, piles of wheat in bulk, hides, quantities of crude 
salt, sugar packed in dried banana leaves, bales of 
alpaca wool, and, most suggestive of all, some heavy 
bags of silver ore. Little is being done in mining at 
present, though the field for this industry is large. 
The difficulty of transportation is one of the great 
drawbacks, yet Peru has over a thousand miles of rail- 
ways in her rather limited area. Gold, platinum, 
silver, and copper are all found in paying quantities. 
Coal and petroleum also exist here, in various inland 
districts. The guano deposits, which have yielded so 
much wealth to Peru in the past, are practically 
exhausted, while the nitrate -producing province of 



CALLAO. 337 

Tarapaca has been stolen by Chili, to which it now 
belongs. It is thought that the nitrate deposits can 
be profitably worked for fifty years to come. 

A crowd of the lazy, ragged population were loaf- 
ing about the landing, watching the strangers as they 
came on shore at the wet and slippery stone steps. 

It is very plain that the great importance of Callao 
has departed, though there is still an appearance of 
business activity. Not long ago, a hundred vessels at 
a time might be seen at anchor inside of San Lorenzo ; 
now, a score of good-sized ships are all one can count. 
This is owing to various causes : an unreasonable high 
tariff is one of them, exorbitant port charges is an- 
other, and the general depression of business on the 
west coast is felt quite as strongly here as at any of 
the ports. Like Santos, on the other side of the con- 
tinent, Callao is ever an unhealthy resort, where a 
great mortality prevails in the fever season. The ab- 
sence of good drainage and inattention to hygienic 
rides will in part account for the bad repute that the 
port has among the shipping masters who frequent the 
coast. The streets are particularly malodorous about 
the water front. The dirty vultures seem to be de- 
pended upon to remove offensive garbage. 

A certain remarkable occurrence sometimes takes 
place in this harbor, which, so far as the writer 
knows, is without precedent elsewhere. A ship may 
come in from sea and anchor at about sunset, in good 
order and condition, everything being white and clean 
on board, but when her captain comes on deck the 



338 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

next morning, he may find that his ship has been 
painted, inside and out, a dark chocolate color dur- 
ing the night, the atmosphere at the same time being 
impregnated with a peculiar odor, arising from this 
"paint," or whatever it may be, which clings tena- 
ciously to every object, wood or iron. While it is 
damp and freshly deposited, it can be removed like 
fresh paint, but if it is permitted to dry, it is as diffi- 
cult to remove as ordinary dried paint would be. No 
one can tell the origin of this nuisance, but most sea- 
men whose business brings them to Callao have been 
through this experience. Of course it must be an at- 
mospheric deposit, but from whence? It has never 
been known to occur upon the neighboring land, but 
only in the harbor. Scientists have given the matter 
their attention, and have concluded that it may be 
caused by sulphurous gases produced in the earth 
below the water, which rise to the surface and dissem- 
inate themselves in the surrounding atmosphere. 

From any elevated point in the city one may enjoy 
a delightful view, the main features of which are the 
Andes on the land side, and seaward, the broad heav- 
ing bosom of the Pacific. The corrugated peaks of 
the former, clad in white, seem like restless phantoms 
marching through the sky. Over the latter, long 
lines of inky blackness trail behind northern or south- 
ern bound steamers, while here and there a tall, full- 
rigged ship recalls the older modes of navigation. 

The smoother water inside of San Lorenzo is alive 
with small boats, some under sails, some propelled by 



CINCHONA BARK. 339 

oars, shooting in and out among the shipping which 
lie at anchor before the town. A pair of large whales 
assisted at this scene for our special benefit, just in- 
side the harbor's mouth. It must have been only- 
play on their part, — leviathans at play, — but they 
threw up the sea in such clouds of spray with their 
broad tails, as to make it appear like a battle -royal 
seen from a mile away. 

We mentioned the fact of seeing cinchona bark in 
bales ready for shipping. Of all the products of 
South America, gold, silver, and precious stones in- 
cluded, the most valuable is the drug which is called 
quinine, made from the bark of the cinchona tree. 
There is no other one article known to the materia 
medica which has been used in such large quantities 
or with such unvarying success by suffering human- 
ity. It was first introduced into Europe from Peru, 
and was then known as Peruvian bark. It was sup- 
posed at that time to be found only in this section of 
the continent ; but subsequently it was discovered to 
abound in all the forests along the course of the Andes, 
and especially on their western slope. So large has 
been its export that it was found the source of supply 
was rapidly becoming exhausted, until local govern- 
ments awoke to the importance of the matter, and 
protected by law the trees which produce it. These 
are no longer ruthlessly cut down to die, when yield- 
ing their valuable harvest, but only a certain quantity 
of the desirable bark is taken from each tree annu- 
ally, so that nature replaces the portion which had 



340 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

been removed, by covering the trunk with a fresh 
growth. The cinchona tree, having been transplanted 
from South America, is now successfully cultivated 
in the islands of the Malacca Straits, Ceylon, India, 
and other tropical regions. 

The tree which produces this valuable febrifuge 
belongs to the same family as the coffee plant. In ap- 
pearance it is very like our native beech tree, having 
remarkably white wood. 

The llama is found nearly all over South America, 
and is often seen as a beast of burden at Callao, tak- 
ing the place here which the donkey or burro fills in 
Mexico. It has been described as having the head 
and neck of a camel, the body of a deer, the wool of 
a sheep, and the neigh of a horse. We do not agree 
with those who pronounce the llama an awkward 
creature. True, the body is a little ungainly, but the 
head, the graceful pose, the pointed, delicate ears, and 
the large, lustrous eyes are absolutely handsome. It 
can carry a burden weighing one hundred pounds 
over hard mountain roads, day after day, while liv- 
ing upon very scanty food. It is slow in its move- 
ments, patient when well treated, and particularly 
sure-footed. It is of a very gentle disposition, but 
when it finds the weight placed upon its back too 
heavy, like the Egyptian camel, it immediately lies 
down and will not rise until the load is lightened. 
The llama, or "mountain camel," as it has been aptly 
called, is the only domesticated native animal. The 
horse, ox, hog, and sheep are all importations which 



A NATIVE DANCE. 341 

were entirely unknown here four centuries ago. The 
llama has two notable peculiarities : when angry it 
will expectorate at its enemy, and when hurt will shed 
tears. The expectoration is of an acrid, semi-poison- 
ous nature, and if it strikes the eyes will, it is said, 
blind them. The llama, guanaco, alpaca, and vicuna 
were the four sheep of the Incas, the wool of the first 
clothing the common people; the second, the nobles; 
the third, the royal governors; and the fourth the 
Incas. The first two are domesticated, guanacos and 
vicunas are wild, though they all belong to the same 
family. 

The manners and customs of any people new to the 
traveler are always an interesting study, but in no- 
thing are they more strongly individualized than in the 
pursuit of amusements. A favorite dance, known 
here as the zama cueca, is often witnessed out-of-doors 
in retired corners of the plaza or the alameda, as well 
as elsewhere. It requires two performers, and is gen- 
erally danced by a male and female, being not unlike 
the Parisian cancan, both in the movement and the 
purpose of the expression. The two dancers stand 
opposite each other, each having a pocket handker- 
chief in the right hand, while the music begins at 
first a dull, monotonous air, which rapidly rises and 
falls in cadence. The dancers approach each other, 
swaying their bodies gracefully, and using their limbs 
nimbly; now they pass each other, turning in the act 
to coquettishly wave the handkerchief about their 
heads, and also to snap it towards each other's faces. 



342 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

Thus they advance and retreat several times, whip- 
ping at each other's faces, while throwing their bodies 
into peculiar attitudes. Again they resume the first 
movement of advance and retreat, one assuming coy- 
ness, the other ardor, and thus continue, until, as a 
sort of climax, they fall into each other's arms with a 
peal of hearty laughter. A guitar is the usual accom- 
panying instrument, the player uttering the while a 
shrill impromptu chant. When a male dancer joins 
in this street performance, as is sometimes the case, it 
is apt to be a little coarse and vulgar. 

There is very little in Callao to detain us, and one 
is quite ready to hasten on to Lima, the capital of 
Peru, hoping to escape the stench and universal dirti- 
ness of the port. 

The city of Lima has at this writing about one hun- 
dred and sixty thousand inhabitants, and is situated 
six miles from Callao, its shipping port, with which 
it is connected by two rival railways. These roads 
are constructed upon an up-grade the whole distance, 
but the rise is so gradual as to be almost impercep- 
tible, though Lima is over five hundred feet higher 
than Callao. The capital, which is clearly visible 
from the water as we enter the harbor, presents from 
that distance, and even from a much nearer point of 
view, a most pleasing picture, being favorably sit- 
uated on elevated ground, with its many spires and 
domes standing forth in bold relief. It has, when 
seen from such a distance, a certain oriental appear- 
ance, charming to the eye of a stranger. But it is 



THE RIVER RIM AC. 343 

deceptive; it is indeed distance which lends enchant- 
ment in this case, for upon arriving within its pre- 
cincts one is rudely undeceived. The apparently 
grand array of architecture on near inspection proves 
to be flimsy and poor in detail : everything is bamboo 
frame and plaster; no edifice is solid above the base- 
ment. Still, one can easily imagine how attractive 
the place must have been in those viceregal days, the 
period of its false glory and prosperity. The cap- 
ital stands almost at the very foot of the Cordillera 
which forms the coast range, and is built upon both 
sides of the Kimac, over which stretches a substan- 
tial stone bridge of six arches, very old and very 
homely, but all the more interesting because it is so 
venerable. The width of the river at this point is over 
five hundred feet. In the winter season it is a very 
moderate stream, but when the summer sun asserts 
itself, the snow upon the neighboring mountains 
yields to its warmth, and the Rio Rimac then becomes 
an alpine torrent. It is like the Arno at Florence, 
which at certain seasons has the form of a river with- 
out the circulation. The anecdote is told here of a 
Yankee visitor to Lima who was being shown over the 
city by a patriotic citizen, and who on coining to this 
spot remarked to his chaperon: "You ought either to 
buy a river or sell this bridge." 

At the entrance of this ancient structure stands a 
lofty and very effective archway, with two tall towers, 
and a clock in a central elevation. Prominent over 
the arched entrance to the roadway is the motto Dlos 



344 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

y La JPatria, — "God and Country." Nothing in 
Lima is of more interest than this hoary, unique, 
moss-grown bridge. 

One pauses before the crumbling yet still substan- 
tial old structure to recall the vivid scenes which must 
have been enacted in the long, long past upon its road- 
way. Here madly contending parties have spilled 
each other's blood, hundreds of gaudy church proces- 
sions have crossed these arches, bitter civil and foreign 
wars have raged about the bridge, dark conspiracies 
have been whispered and ripened here, solitary mur- 
ders committed in the darkness of night, and lifeless 
bodies thrown from its parapet ; but the dumb witness 
still remains intact, having endured more than three 
hundred years of use and abuse. 

It is not necessary to unpack one's waterproof or 
umbrella in Lima. It never rains here, any more than 
it does in the region of Aden, at the mouth of the 
Red Sea. All vegetable growth is more or less de- 
pendent upon artificial irrigation, and in the environs 
where this is judiciously applied the orange and lemon 
trees are heavy with golden fruit, forming a rich con- 
trast with the deep green of the luxuriant plantain, 
the thick, lance-like agave, and the prolific banana. 
The city and its environs would be as poorly off with- 
out the water of the Rimac as would the Egyptians if 
deprived of the annual overflow of the fertilizing Nile. 
Though the river is so inconsiderable at certain sea- 
sons, still it does supply a certain quantity of water 
always, which is improved to the utmost. Dews some 



ABSENCE OF RAIN. 345 

times prevail at night, so heavy as to be of partial 
benefit, giving to vegetation a breath of moisture, and 
taking away the dead dryness of the atmosphere. 
This, however favorable for vegetation, is considered 
unwholesome for humanity. The flowers and shrub- 
bery of the plaza droop for want of water, and are 
only preserved by great care on the part of those in 
charge of them. In some of the private gardens 
the pashinba palm-tree is seen, very peculiar in its 
growth, being mounted as it were upon stilts, formed 
by the exposed straight roots which radiate, like a se- 
ries of props, to support the tall trunk. At its apex is 
a singular, spear -like stem, pointing straight skyward, 
without leaf or branch, just beneath which are the 
graceful, long, curved palm leaves, exquisite in propor- 
tions, bending like ostrich feathers. At first sight 
this tree looks like an artificial production, in which 
nature has taken no part. Lying only twelve de- 
grees south of the equator, Lima has a tropical cli- 
mate, but being also close to the foothills of the Andes, 
she is near to a temperate district, so that her market 
yields the fruits and vegetables of two zones. 

Pizarro, the ambitious and intrepid conqueror of 
Peru, here established his capital in 1535, and here 
ended his days in 1541, dying at the hands of the as- 
sassin, the natural and retributive end of a life of 
gross bigotry, sensuality, recklessness, and almost 
unparalleled cruelty. In a narrow street, — the Calle- 
jon de Petateron, — leading out of the Plaza Mayor, 
a house is pointed out as being the one in which 



346 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

Pizarro was assassinated. Both Pizarro in Peru and 
Cortez in Mexico owed their phenomenal success to 
exceptional circumstances, namely, to the civil wars 
which prevailed among the native tribes of the coun- 
tries they invaded. By shrewdly directing these in- 
testine troubles so as to aid their own purposes, each 
commander in his special field achieved complete vic- 
tory over races which, thus disunited and pitted 
against each other, fell an easy prey to the cunning 
invaders. Neither of these adventurers had sufficient 
strength to contend against a united and determined 
people. Such an enemy on his own ground would 
have swept the handful of Spaniards led by Pizarro 
from the face of the earth by mere force of numbers. 
Soon after its foundation, Lima became the most 
luxurious and profligate of the viceregal courts of 
Spain, and so continued until its declaration of inde- 
pendence, and final separation from the mother coun- 
try. The most worthless and restless spirits about 
the throne of Spain were favored in a desire to join 
Pizarro in the New World. The home government, 
while purging itself of so undesirable an element, 
added to the recklessness and utter immorality which 
reigned in the atmosphere of Lima. Forty -three suc- 
cessive viceroys ruled Peru during the Spanish occu- 
pancy. The nefarious Inquisition, steeped in the 
blood of helpless and innocent natives, was active here 
long after its decadence in Madrid, while the local 
churches, convents, and monasteries accumulated 
untold wealth by a system of arbitrary taxation, and 



PIZARRO. 347 

iniquitous extortion exercised towards the native race. 
What better could have been expected from Pizarro 
than to inaugurate and foster such a state of affairs? 
Under the influence of designing priests and lascivious 
monks, he was as clay in the potter's hands, being 
originally only an illiterate swineherd, one who could 
neither read nor write. The state documents put 
forth during his viceregency, still preserved and to be 
seen in the archives of Lima, show that he could only 
affix his mark, not even attempting to write his own 
name. Though Charles V. finally indorsed and en- 
nobled him with the title of Marques de la Conquista, 
and appointed him viceroy of the conquered coun- 
try, he was still and ever the illegitimate, low-bred 
hind of Truxillo in continental Spain. The palace of 
this man, who, with the exception of Cortez, was the 
greatest human butcher of the age in which he lived, 
is still used for government offices, while the senate 
occupies the council chamber of the old Inquisition 
building, infamous for the bloody work done within 
its walls. H. Willis Baxley, M. D., the admirable 
author, writes on the spot as follows: "When the 
apologists of Pizarro attempt to shield his crimes, and 
excuse his acts of cruelty by his religious zeal and 
holy purpose of extending the dominion of the cross, 
they may well be answered that the religion was un- 
worthy of adoption which required for its extension 
that the wife of the Inca Manco, then a prisoner in 
Pizarro's power, should be 'stripped naked, bound to 
a tree, and in presence of the camp be scourged with 



348 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

rods, and then shot to death with arrows ! ' This 
cold-blooded brutalit} r , and to a woman, should brand 
his name with eternal infamy." 

As we have intimated, Lima, like Constantinople, 
looks at its best from a distance, viewed so that the 
full and combined effect of its many domes and spires 
can be taken in as a whole ; but whether near to it or 
far from it, few places in South America possess more 
poetical and historical interest. Its past story reads 
like an Arabian Nights' tale. Though the city is by 
no means what it has been, and wears an unmistak- 
able air of decayed greatness, and though foreign 
invaders and civil wars have done their worst, Lima 
is still an extremely attractive metropolis. Even the 
vandalism of the late Chilian invaders, who outraged 
all the laws of civilized warfare (if there is any such 
thing as civilized warfare), regardless of the rights 
of non-combatants, could not obliterate her natural 
attractions and historical associations. The Chilian 
soldiers destroyed solely for the sake of destroying, 
mutilated statuary and works of art generally, besides 
burning historical treasures and libraries; and yet 
these Chilians claim to be the highest type of modern 
civilization on the southern continent. They strove to 
ruin whatever they could not steal and carry away 
with them from Peru, and, almost incredible to re- 
cord, they wantonly killed the elephant in the zoolog- 
ical garden of Lima, and purloined the small animals. 
Noble, chivalrous Chilians! The rank and file of 
these people are the very embodiment of ignorance and 



CHILIAN SOLDIERS. 349 

brutality. The Chilian soldier carries, as a regular 
weapon, a curved knife called a curvos, with which 
he cuts the throats of his enemies. At close quarters, 
instead of fighting man-fashion, as nearly all other na- 
tions do, he springs like a fierce bull-dog at his oppo- 
nent's throat, and with his curvos cuts it from ear to 
ear. After a battle, bands of these fiends in human 
shape go over the field, seeking out the wounded who 
are still alive, deliberately cutting their throats, and 
robbing their bodies of all valuables. It is Chilian 
tactics to take no prisoners, give no quarter. These 
brave soldiers would have burned Lima to the ground 
after gaining possession, had it not been for the inter- 
ference of the foreign ministers, who had national men- 
of-war at Callao with which to back their arguments. 
These guerrillas — for that is just about what the 
Chilian soldiers are — knew full well that if even a 
small European battalion of disciplined men were 
landed and brought against them, they would simply 
be swept from the face of the earth. 

Lima is laid out with the streets in rectangular 
form, the central point being the Plaza Mayor, in the 
shape of a quadrangle, each side of which is five 
hundred feet in length. On the north side of this 
admirably arranged square stand the buildings occu- 
pied as government offices, together with the bishop's 
palace, and the cathedral overshadowed by its two 
lofty towers. The corner-stone of this edifice was laid 
by Pizarro with great ceremony. The spires, although 
presenting such an effective appearance, are con- 



350 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

structed of the most frail material, such as bricks, 
stucco, and bamboo frames, but still, as a whole, they 
are undeniably imposing. In this dry climate they 
are, perhaps, enduring also. Like the facade of the 
church of St. Roche, in Paris, this of the Lima ca- 
thedral is marked by bullet-holes commemorating the 
Chilian invasion. The church is raised six or eight 
feet above the level of the plaza, as is usual in South 
America, standing upon a marble platform, reached 
by broad steps, well calculated to enhance the really 
graceful proportions, and add to the effect of its broad, 
high towers. The interior is quite commonplace, with 
the usual tinsel, poor carvings, and wretched oil paint- 
ings, including several grotesque Virgin Marys. These 
were too poor even for the Chilians to steal. Beneath 
the grand altar rest the ashes of Pizarro, the cruel, am- 
bitious, reckless tool of the Romish Church. The ca- 
thedral was built in 1540, but has undergone complete 
repairs and renovations from time to time, being still 
considered to be one of the most imposing ecclesi- 
astical edifices in America. Its original cost is said 
to have been nine million dollars, to obtain which 
Pizarro robbed the Inca temples of all their elaborate 
gold and silver ornaments. According to Prescott, 
the Spaniards took twenty -four thousand, eight hun- 
dred pounds of gold, and eighty -two thousand ounces 
of silver from a single Inca temple ! Prescott is care- 
ful in his statements to warn us of the unreliability of 
the Spanish writers, nearly all of whom were Romish 
priests. Where figures are concerned they cannot be 



THE PLAZA MAYOR OF LIMA. 351 

depended upon for a moment. They also took special 
care to cover up the fiendish atrocities of the Inqui- 
sition, and the extortions of the church as exercised 
towards the poor, down-trodden native race. 

One's spirits partook of the sombre and austere 
atmosphere which reigns at all times in this ancient 
edifice. It was very lonely. Not a soul was to be 
seen during our brief visit to the cathedral at noon- 
day, except a couple of decrepit old beggars at the 
entrance, the faint, dull glare of the burning candles 
about the altar only serving to deepen the shadows 
and emphasize the darkness. 

The area of the Plaza Mayor embraces eight or 
nine acres of land, and has often been the theatre of 
most sanguinary scenes, where hand-to-hand fights 
have frequently taken place between insurgent cit- 
izens and soldiers of the ruling power of the day, 
while many unpopular officials have been hanged in 
the towers of the cathedral, from each of which pro- 
jects a gibbet ! The middle of the plaza is beautified 
by a bronze fountain with arboreal and floral sur- 
roundings. There was formerly some statuary here, 
which the brave Chilians stole and carried away with 
them, even purloining the iron benches, which they 
transported to Valparaiso and Santiago. The streets 
running from this square, with the exception of the 
Calle de los Mercaderes, have an atmosphere of anti- 
quity, which contrasts with the people one meets in 
them. Even the turkey buzzards, acting as street 
scavengers, are of an antique species, looking quite 



352 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

gray and dilapidated, as though they were a hundred 
years old. In Vera Cruz the same species of bird, 
kept for a similar purpose, have a brightness of 
feather, and jauntiness withal, quite unlike these fea- 
thered street-cleaners of Lima. The " Street of the 
Merchants," just referred to, is the fashionable shop- 
ping thoroughfare of Lima, where in the afternoons 
the ladies and gentlemen are seen in goodly numbers 
promenading in full dress. 

There is here the usual multiplicity of churches, 
convents, and nunneries, such as are to be found in 
all Spanish cities, though the latter establishments 
have been partially suppressed. Some of the churches 
of Lima are fabulously expensive structures; indeed, 
the amount of money squandered on churches and 
church property in this city is marvelous. During 
the late war many articles of gold and silver, belong- 
ing to them, were melted into coin, but some were 
hidden, and have once more been restored to their 
original position in the churches. The convent and 
church of San Francisco form one of the most costly 
groups of buildings of the sort in America. The or- 
namental tiles of the flooring are calculated, not by 
the square yard, but by the acre. There are over a 
hundred Roman Catholic churches in Lima, few of 
which have any architectural beauty, but all of which 
are crowded with vulgar wax figures, wooden images, 
and bleeding saints. These churches in several in- 
stances have very striking facades : that of La Mer- 
ced, for instance; but they are mere shams, as we 



SUNDAY IN LIMA. 353 

have already said, — stucco and plaster ; they would 
not endure the wear of any other climate for a single 
decade. 

With all this outside religious show in Lima, there 
is no corresponding observance of the sacred character 
of the Sabbath. It is held rather as a period of gross 
license and indulgence, and devoted to bull -fights, 
cock-fighting, and drunkenness. The lottery-ticket 
vender reaps the greatest harvest on this occasion, and 
the gambling saloons are all open. Children pursue 
their every -day sports with increased ardor, and the 
town puts on a gala day aspect. At night the streets 
are ablaze, the theatres are crowded, and dissipation 
of every conceivable sort waxes fast and furious until 
long past midnight. The ignorant mass generally has 
drifted into observing the rituals of the Romish 
Church, but there are many of the native Indians in 
Peru who cherish a belief of a millennium in the near 
future ; a time when the true prophet of the sun will 
return and restore the grand old Inca dynasty. Just 
so the Moors of Tangier hold to the belief that the 
time will yet come when they will be restored to the 
glory of their fathers, and to their beloved Granada ; 
that the halls of the Alhambra will once more resound 
to the Moorish lute, and the grand cathedral of Cor- 
dova shall again become a mosque of the true faith. 

The fact that the bull -ring of Lima will accommo- 
date sixteen thousand people, and that it is always 
well filled on Sundays, speaks for itself. At these 
sanguinary performances a certain class of women 



354 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

appear in large numbers and in full dress, entering 
heartily into the spirit of the occasion, and waving 
their handkerchiefs furiously to applaud the actors in 
the tragedy, while the exhibitions are characterized 
by even more cruelty than at Madrid or Havana. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

A Grand Plaza. — Retribution. — The University of Lima. — Sig- 
nificance of Ancient Pottery. — Architecture. — Picturesque Dwell- 
ing. — Domestic Scene. — Destructive Earthquakes. — Spanish 
Sway. — Women of Lima. — Street Costumes. — Ancient Bridge 
of Lima. — Newspapers. — Pawnbrokers' Shops. — Exports. — An 
Ancient Mecca. — Home by Way of Europe. 

The large square in Lima, known as Plazuela de la 
Independencia, is grand in its proportions. One prom- 
inent feature is the bronze statue of Bolivar, the 
famous South American patriot. It also contains the 
old palace of the Inquisition, which looks to-day more 
like a stable than a palace. This detestable institu- 
tion attained to greater scope and power here than 
it did even in Mexico. According to its own records, 
during its existence in the capital of Peru, fifty -nine 
persons were publicly burned alive as heretics, be- 
cause they would not acknowledge the Roman Catholic 
faith, thousands were tortured until in their agony 
they agreed to anything, while thousands were publicly 
scourged to the same end. Could the truth be fully 
known as regards the bigoted reign of the priesthood 
at the time referred to in Peru, it would form one of 
the most startling chapters of modern history. But 
they were their own chroniclers, and suppressed every- 
thing which might possibly reflect upon themselves or 



356 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

upon their church. Retribution was slow, but it has 
come finally. The former convent of Guadeloupe is 
now occupied for a worthy object as a high school ; the 
main portion of the cloisters of San Francisco have 
made way for the college of San Marco ; that of San 
Carlos has supplanted the Jesuits ; San Juan de Dios 
is now occupied as a railway station ; while the once 
famous and infamous convent of Santa Catalina serves 
to-day as the public market. 

The University of Lima was the first seat of edu- 
cation established in the New World, or, to fix the 
period more clearly in the average reader's mind, it 
dates from about seventy years before the historic 
Mayflower reached the shore of New England. The 
National Library contains some forty thousand vol- 
umes, also a collection of Peruvian antiquities, besides 
many objects of natural history, mostly of such exam- 
ples as are indigenous to this section. There is one 
large oil painting in this building by a native artist 
named Monteros, the canvas measuring thirty by twenty 
feet. The title is " Obsequies of Atahualpa." This was 
carried away by the thieving Chilians, but was finally 
restored to Peru. It should be mentioned, to their 
lasting shame, that the books which they stole at the 
same time have not been returned. 

The ancient pottery one sees in the collection of 
Peruvian antiquities is wonderfully like that to be 
found in the Boulak Museum at Cairo, in Egypt, 
Etruscan and Egyptian patterns prevailing over all 
other forms, which strongly suggests a common origin. 



D W ELLIN G-RO USES. 357 

Besides those which we have named, there are several 
other educational and art institutions in the city, 
together with three hospitals, two lunatic asylums, a 
college of arts, and the National Mint. One hospital, 
bearing the name of the Second of May Hospital, is a 
very large and thoroughly equipped establishment, 
occupying a whole square, and having accommodations 
for seven hundred patients. There are four theatres, 
one of which is conducted by the Chinese after their own 
peculiar fashion. The outsides of the dwelling-houses 
are painted in various brilliant colors, a practice which 
is found to prevail all over the southern continent, and 
which exhibits an inherent love among the people for 
warm, bright hues. The roofs of most houses serve as 
a depository for hens and chickens, noisy gamecocks 
especially asserting themselves before daybreak, for- 
bidding all ideas of morning naps, unless one is 
accustomed to the din. Many of the dwellings are 
picturesque and attractive, with overhanging balco- 
nies and bay windows, the latter oftentimes finished 
very elaborately with handsome wood carvings and 
open-work lattices. As to the prevailing style of 
architecture, it is Spanish and Moorish combined, each 
building being constructed about a central patio, which 
is often rendered lovely with flowers and statuary, 
together with small orange and lemon trees in large 
painted tubs. 

The abundance of cracks in the walls of the dwell- 
ings, both inside and out, is a significant hint that 
we are in an earthquake country. A slight shake is 



358 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

hardly spoken of at all ; they come so often as to be 
comparatively unheeded. 

In the environs of Lima the houses are built of 
adobe, rarely over one story in height, with very thick 
walls, this style having been found the best to resist 
the earthquakes, which must be very serious indeed 
to affect a low adobe house with walls two feet and a 
half thick. About these residences, which, not to put 
too fine a point upon the matter, are really nothing 
but mud cabins, there is often seen an attractive 
and refining feature, namely, small, but exceedingly 
pretty plots of cultivated flowers. It is astonishing 
how perfectly they serve to throw a flavor of refine- 
ment over all things else. The variety and fragrance of 
the Lima roses are something long to be remembered, 
and the people here seem to have a special love for 
this most popular of flowers. We had missed them 
nearly everywhere else in South America ; therefore 
they were thrice welcome when they greeted us at Lima. 

There is a dwelling-house in this city belonging to 
an old and rich family, which is worth a pilgrimage 
to see. It is built of stone, artistically carved, with a 
square balcony and bay window on each side of the 
tall, spacious, and elaborately ornamented doorway. 
It is clearly Moorish in type, and must be nearly or 
quite three hundred years old. Photographs are found 
of its facade in the art stores of Lima, and most 
visitors bring one away with them as a memento of 
the place. The house stands even with the thorough- 
fare, and is only two stories in height, but is a beautiful 



A DOMESTIC PICTURE. 359 

relic of the past. It would be quite in accordance 
with the surroundings, were it to be transported to 
Cairo or Bagdad. 

On the way from the Plaza Mayor to this at- 
tractive bit of Morisco architecture, one gets frequent 
glimpses of pretty, cool, flower-decked patios, about 
which the low picturesque dwellings are erected, and 
where domestic life is seen in partial seclusion. An 
infant is playing on the marble paved court, watched 
by a dark Indian nurse. An ermine-colored cockatoo 
with a gorgeous yellow plume is gravely eying the child 
from its perch. Creeping vines twine about the slim 
columns which support a low arcade above the entrance 
floor. Farther in, a bit of statuary peeps out from 
among the greenery, which is growing in high-colored 
wooden tubs. The vine, which clings tenaciously to 
the small columns, is the passion plant, its flowers seem- 
ing almost artificial in their regularity, brightness, 
and abundance. A fair senora in diaphanous robes 
reclines at ease in a low, pillowed seat, and the senor, 
cigarette in mouth, swings leisurely in a hammock. 

It was a pretty, characteristic family picture, of 
which we should be glad to possess a photograph. 

Few cities have a more agreeable climate. The 
range of the thermometer throughout the year being 
for the winter season from 68° to 75°, and in the 
summer from 80° to 88°. The Humboldt current, as 
it is called, sweeps along the coast from the Antarctic 
circle, causing a much lower temperature here than 
exists in the same latitude on the other side of the 



360 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

continent. Lima, it will be remembered, is situated 
about twelve degrees from the equatorial line. The 
climate is of exquisite softness, beneath a sky serenely 
blue ; every breath is a pleasure, tranquillizing to both 
mind and body. Rain is of very rare occurrence, 
as we have intimated, but earthquakes are frequent. 
The most destructive visit of this sort in modern times 
was in 1745, which at the same time destroyed the 
port of Callao. Though Lima is blessed with such 
a seemingly equable climate, for some unexplained 
reason it is very far from being a healthy place. 
The great mortality which prevails here is entirely out 
of proportion to the number of inhabitants. There 
must be some local reason for this. Even in the days 
of the Incas, the present site of the city was deemed 
to be a spot only fit for criminals ; that is to say, 
a penal colony was located here, where the earlier 
Peruvians placed condemned people, and where a high 
rate of mortality was not regarded as being entirely 
objectionable. The Campo Santo of Lima, in the im- 
mediate environs of the city, is built with tall thick 
walls containing niches four ranges high, and recalls 
those of the city of Mexico. It is not customary to 
bury in the ground. Some of the monuments are 
quite elaborate, but the place generally has a neglected 
appearance, and no attempt seems made to give it a 
pleasing aspect. It has neither flowers nor trees. 

The Spaniards, during a sway which lasted over 
three hundred years, were terrible taskmasters in Peru, 
enslaving, crushing, and massacring the natives, just 



THE WOMEN OF LIMA. 361 

as they did in Cuba and Mexico. The Indians were 
looked upon as little more than beasts of burden, and 
their lives or well-being were of no sort of account, ex- 
cept so far as they served the purposes of the invad- 
ing hordes of Spaniards. The race which has been pro- 
duced by intermarriage and promiscuous intercourse 
is a very heterogeneous one, born of aborigines, ne- 
groes, mulattoes, Spaniards, and Portuguese. In reli- 
gion, as well as in daily life, the habits of the people are 
Castilian, whether red, yellow, or black. There is also 
a considerable Chinese population, which, however, as a 
rule, maintains isolation from other nationalities so far 
as intermarriage or close intimacy is concerned. Many 
of the Chinese keep cheap eating-houses, and always 
seem to be industrious and thrifty. They are the out- 
come of the coolie trade, by which the Peruvian plan-, 
tations were for years supplied with laborers, — slave 
labor, for that is exactly what it was to all intents and 
purposes, call it what we may. But this cruel and 
unjust system has long been suppressed. Most of the 
small shops are kept by Italians, and the best hotels 
by Frenchmen. The banking-houses are usually con- 
ducted by Germans, while Americans and Englishmen 
divide the engineering work, the construction of rail- 
ways, with such other progressive enterprises as re- 
quire a large share of brains, energy, and capital. 

The women are generally handsome and of the 
Spanish type, yet they differ therefrom in some im- 
portant and very obvious particulars. Their gypsy 
complexions, jet black hair and eyes, white, regular 



362 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

teeth, with full red lips, form a combination very 
pleasing to the eye. It must be acknowledged, how- 
ever, that their complexions are aided by cosmetics. 
The features are small and regular, the ears being set 
particularly close to the head, which is always a no- 
ticeable peculiarity when it prevails. They are viva- 
cious and mirthful, yet not forward or immodest. As 
regards the youthful portion, conventionality prevents 
all exhibition of the latter trait. In dress they follow 
the styles of Boston, New York, and Paris. As their 
brothers have been mostly educated in the cities named, 
they very generally speak French and English. Many 
of the ladies have themselves enjoyed the advantages 
of English, French, or North American schools in their 
girlhood. A certain etiquette as regards the society 
of men is very strictly observed here. No gentleman 
can associate with a young lady unless she is chap- 
eroned by her mother or a married sister. From what 
we know of Spanish and Italian character, we are not 
at all surprised at the punctiliousness adhered to in 
both countries in this regard. There are very good 
reasons why such rules are imperative, not only in 
South America, but in continental Europe. Like 
most of the Spanish women, these of Lima, after the 
age of twenty-five, though they are rather short, and 
of small frames, nearly always develop into a decided 
fullness of figure. 

There is a semi-oriental seclusion observed at all 
times as regards the sex in this country. They are 
rarely seen upon the streets, except when driving, or 



NATIONAL COSTUME. 363 

going and coming from church ; but one need not 
watch very closely to see many inquisitive eyes peeping 
from behind the curtained balconies which overhang 
the thoroughfares, and to catch occasionally stolen 
glances from pretty, coquettish owners, who would be 
very hospitable to strangers if they dared. 

Human nature is much the same in Lima as else- 
where. When seen on the streets, the ladies generally 
wear the black " manta " drawn close about the head 
and shoulders and partially covering the face. The 
manta is a shawl and bonnet combined, or rather it 
takes the place of a bonnet, and suggests the lace veil 
so universally worn at Havana, Seville, and Madrid, 
also recalling the yashmak worn by the women of the 
East. The Lima ladies cover half the face, including 
one eye ; those of Egypt only cover the lower part of 
the face, leaving both eyes exposed. 

We are speaking of the better class of the metrop- 
olis. Among the more common people, instances of 
great personal beauty are frequent. One sees daily 
youthful girls on the streets who would be pronounced 
beautiful under nearly any circumstances, an inher- 
itance only too often proving a fatal legacy to the 
owner, forming a source of temptation in a community 
where morals are held of such slight account, except 
among the more refined classes, of whom we have been 
speaking. 

One peculiarity is especially noticeable here among i 
the native race : it is that the Peruvians seem to be 
mere lookers-on as regards the business of life in 



364 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

their country. All of the important trade is, as we 
have said, in the hands of foreigners. The English 
control the shipping interests, almost entirely, while 
the skilled machinists are nearly all Americans, with 
a few Scotchmen. We repeat this fact as showing 
the do-nothing nature of the natives, and also as sig- 
nifying that for true progress, indeed, for the growth 
of civilization in any desirable direction, emigration 
from Europe and North America must be depended 
upon. 

The heavy alcoves of the old stone bridge at Lima 
are appropriated by the fruit women, whose tempting 
display forms glowing bits of color. The thorough- 
fares are crowded by itinerant peddlers of all sorts of 
merchandise. Milk-women come from the country, 
mounted astride of small horses or donkeys; water 
carriers trot about on jackasses, sitting behind their 
water jars and uttering piercing cries ; Chinese food 
venders, with articles made from mysterious sources, 
balance their baskets at either end of long poles placed 
across their shoulders ; the lottery-ticket vender, loud 
voiced and urgent, is ever present ; newspaper boys, 
after our own fashion, shout " El Pais, " or " El 
Nacional ; " chicken dealers, with baskets full of live 
birds on their head and half a dozen hanging from each 
hand, solicit your patronage ; beggars of both sexes, 
but mostly lazy, worthless men, feign pitiful lame- 
ness, while importuning every stranger for a centavo ; 
bright, careless girls and boys rush hither and thither, 
full of life and spirit, — black, yellow, brown, and 



PAWNBROKERS' SHOPS. 365 

white, all mingling together on an equal footing. The 
absence of wheeled vehicles is noticeable, the tramway- 
cars gliding rapidly past the pedestrians, while pack- 
horses and donkeys transport mostly such merchan- 
dise as is not carried on the heads of men and women. 
Of the better class of citizens who help to make up 
this polyglot community of the metropolis, one very 
easily distinguishes the American, French, German, 
and English ; each nationality is somehow distinctively 
marked. 

The stock of goods offered for sale in the pawn- 
brokers' shops, as a rule, is very significant in for- 
eign cities ; here the shelves of these dealers are full 
of valuable domestic articles, which the fallen fortunes 
of the once rich Lima families have compelled them 
to part with from time to time in a struggle to keep 
the wolf from the door. The Chilians took all they 
could readily find of both public and private property, 
and though they ruined financially some of the best 
families, they did not succeed in getting everything 
which was portable and valuable. Heirlooms are 
offered in these shops for comparatively trifling sums, 
such as rich old lace ; diamonds ; superbly wrought 
bracelets in gold, rubies, topazes, and other precious 
stones, set and unset ; gold and silver spoons and forks 
of curious designs, and of which only one set were 
ever manufactured, intended to fill a special order and 
suit the fancy of some rich family. Drinking-cups 
bearing royal crests, and others with the arms of noble 
Castilian families engraved upon them, are numerous. 



366 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

There are also swords with jeweled hilts, gold and sil- 
ver table ornaments, together with antique china, which 
might rival the Satsuma of Japan. Curio hunters 
have secured many, nay, nearly all, of the very choicest 
of these domestic relics, which they have mostly taken 
to London, where they obtained fabulous prices for 
them. 

We were told of an enterprising Yankee who in- 
vested one thousand dollars in these articles, took 
them to England, and promptly realized some eleven 
thousand dollars above all his expenses upon the ven- 
ture. Returning to Rio Janeiro, on the east coast, 
he purchased precious stones with his increased cap- 
ital, and, strange to say, although he was by no means 
an expert, among his gems he secured an old mine 
diamond of great value at a low figure, which, having 
been crudely cut, did not exhibit its real excellence. 
Taking the whole of his second purchase to Paris, he 
disposed of his gems at a large advance, and finally 
returned to New York with a net capital exceeding 
forty thousand dollars. This enterprising and suc- 
cessful individual bore the euphonious name of Smyth, 
— Smyth with a y, — Alfred Smyth. 

The three watering-places, or country villages of 
Miraflores, Baranco, and Chorillos, are connected 
with Lima by railway, and in these resorts many city 
merchants have their summer homes, occupying pic- 
turesque ranchos. The Chilians sacked and burned 
these places during the war, but they have been mostly 
rebuilt, and are once more in a thriving condition. 



EARTHQUAKES. 367 

Peru was celebrated for centuries as the most pro- 
lific gold and silver producing country in the world ; 
her very name has long been the synonym for riches. 
Although the product of the precious metals is still 
considerable, yet it is quite insignificant compared 
with the revenue which she has realized from the ex- 
port of guano and phosphates. The former article, 
as we have already said, has become virtually ex- 
hausted, and the latter source of supply, still im- 
mensely prolific and valuable, has been stolen from 
her bodily by the Chilians, so that Peru has now to 
fall back upon industry and the remaining natural 
resources of the soil. 

The most remarkable peculiarity in the physical 
formation of Peru is the double Cordillera of the 
Andes, which traverse it from southeast to northwest, 
separating the country into three distinct regions, 
which differ materially from each other in climate, 
soil, and vegetation. To the proximity of the range 
nearest to the coast is undoubtedly to be attributed 
the frequent earthquakes which disturb the shore, 
whether the volcanoes are apparently extinct or not. 
It may be reasonably doubted if any of the volcanoes 
are absolutely extinct, in the full sense of the term. 
They may be inoperative, so far as can be seen, for an 
entire century, and at its close break out in full vigor. 
In consulting the authorities upon this subject we find 
that, since 1570, there have been sixty-nine destruc- 
tive earthquakes recorded as having taken place on 
the west coast of South America. The most terrible 



368 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

of them was that already referred to, which destroyed 
Callao in 1745. It is stated that the shocks at that 
time continued with more or less violence for three 
consecutive months, and the records of the event fur- 
ther state that there were two hundred and twenty 
distinct shocks within the twenty-four hours following 
the enormous tidal wave which overwhelmed Callao. 
At present, hardly a week passes without decided in- 
dications of volcanic disturbance occurring, but these 
are of so slight a nature, comparatively speaking, 
that but little attention is paid to them by the native 
population, though it is true that sensitive strangers 
often turn pale at such an event and tremble with 
fearful anticipations. 

About twenty miles south of Lima, on elevated 
ground which overlooks the Pacific, is the prehistoric 
spot known as Pachacamac, in the valley of the Lurin 
River. The name signifies the " Creator of the World," 
to whom the city and its temples were originally dedi- 
cated. Here, upon the edge of the desert, once stood 
the sacred city of a people who preceded the Incas, 
and who have left in these interesting, mouldering 
ruins tokens of their advanced civilization, as clearly 
denned as are those of Thebes, in far away Egypt. 
Another fact should not be lost sight of in this con- 
nection, that many ancient remains to be found in this 
neighborhood evince a higher degree of intelligence, 
in their constructive belongings, than do any evidences 
left to us respecting the days of the Incas, with whom 
we are in a measure familiar. The archaeologists, 



ANCIENT RUINS. 369 

whose profession it is to - carefully weigh even the 
slightest tangible evidence which time has spared, long 
since came to this conclusion. 

Pachacamac was the Mecca of South America, or 
at least of the most civilized portion of it, if we may 
judge by present appearances, and by the testimony 
of history as far back as it reaches. 

The ruins at Pachacamac consist of walls formed of 
adode and sun-dried bricks, some of which can be 
traced, notwithstanding the many earthquakes which 
have shaken the neighborhood. The site of the ruins 
is a hilly spot, and the sands have drifted so as to 
cover them in many places, just as the Sphinx and 
the base of the pyramids have been covered, near 
Cairo. Specific ruins are designated as having once 
been the grand temple of the sun, and others as the 
house of the sacred virgins of the sun. It is very 
obvious that the Incas destroyed a grand and spacious 
temple here, which legend tells us was heavily adorned 
with silver and gold, to make way for one of their 
own dedicated to the worship of the sun. Who this 
race were and whence they came, with so considerable 
a system of civilization, is a theme which has long 
absorbed the speculative antiquarian. It is easy 
enough to construct theories which may meet the 
case, but it is difficult to support them when they are 
subjected to the cold arguments of reason and the 
test of known history. Actual knowledge is a great 
iconoclast, and smashes the poetical images of the un- 
reliable historian with a ruthless hand. The Spanish 



370 EQUATORIAL AMERICA. 

records relating to the period of early discovery here, 
as also of Pizarro's career and the doing of the agents 
of the Romish Church, have long since been proven 
to be absolutely unworthy of belief. 

About the ruins of Pachacamac was once a sacred 
burial place, where well-preserved mummies are still 
to be found, but the great, silent, ruined city itself 
does not contain one living inhabitant. The grave- 
yard — the Campo Santo — remains, as it were, intact, 
but the proud city, with its grand temples dedicated 
to unknown gods, has crumbled to dust. 

Curiously carved gold and silver vases and orna- 
ments, exhibiting the exercise of a high degree of 
artistic skill, have been exhumed in the vast graveyard 
surrounding these ruins, whose extent, if judged by 
the number of interments which have taken place 
here, must have been ten times larger than the present 
site of Lima, and it must have contained a population 
many times larger than that of the present capital of 
Peru. In the mouths of the well-preserved mummies 
found buried here, we are told that gold coins were 
found, presumably placed there to pay for ferriage 
across the river of death. Here we have a fact also 
worthy of note. It thus appears that this people must 
have had a circulating medium in the shape of gold 
coin. As the placing of coin in the mouth of the de- 
ceased was a custom of the ancient Greeks, may it not 
be that these people came originally from Greece or 
from some contiguous country? 

There are numerous other ancient remains in the 



HOMEWARD BOUND. 371 

neighborhood of Lima, of which even tradition fails 
to give any account. Antiquarians find many clues to 
special knowledge of the past in the remains which 
can be exhumed in places on the coast of Chili and 
Peru, in the ancient graves where the nitrous soil has 
preserved not only the bodies of a former people, but 
also their tools, weapons, and domestic utensils. 

To reach the United States from Callao, the most 
direct course is to sail northward fifteen hundred miles 
to Panama, and cross the isthmus, again taking ship 
from the Atlantic side; but the author's family 
awaited him in Europe, and as the Pacific mail ser- 
vice exactly met his requirements, he sailed southward, 
touching at several of the ports already visited, cross- 
ing the Atlantic by way of the Canary and Cape de 
Verde Islands to Lisbon, thence to Southampton and 
to London. Joining his family, he crossed the At- 
lantic from Liverpool to Boston, after an absence of 
seven months, traveling in all of this equatorial jour- 
ney some thirty thousand miles without any serious 
mishap, and having acquired a largely augmented 
fund of pleasurable memories. 



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